A Thousand Reasons
by NicoleSalvatore1918
Summary: Back in the days when Stefan was a ripper, he partied with a girl who sparked his interest; Emma Lancaster. She was lively, energetic and embraced being a monster. It's been decades since he last saw her and when Stefan sees her again while he is with Klaus, old feelings bubble to the surface. Will he stay loyal to Elena or stray to be with Emma, the girl he was infatuated with?
1. The Birthday

**A/N: Okay, so I have decided to make a new story with an idea that I actually really like since I deleted one of my other stories. This will be a Stefan/OC, it will be from Stefan's point of view, and it will be based off of the episodes in third season and up. I'm not going to say much in fear that I will ruin the story and give away everything. This first chapter is based off of the first episode of season three. **

**I'm just going to write and I hope you will tell me what you think. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Vampire Diaries at all unfortunately. If I did, well, let's just say it would be ****_VERY _****different from what it is now. I only own the plot and my OC characters. **

* * *

**The Birthday**

It was a hot, muggy night in Tennessee and I couldn't keep my mind from thinking about the millions of other things that I, Stefan Salvatore, would rather be doing than hunting down werewolves with the Original Hybrid who was a pain in my ass. I thought about my brother and what he might be doing now that he was cured from the werewolf bite. Knowing Damon, he was probably chasing after sorority girls and trying to get Elena. She would probably refuse him at first but it was Damon and it was only a matter of time before she succumbed to his "charms". Every girl did and Elena was no different no matter how much she said otherwise.

Pushing thoughts of my life back in Mystic Falls out of my head, I cleared my mind so I could focus on the task at hand. Klaus was hunting a specific werewolf by the name of Ray down, wanting to change him and his pack into his own race of hybrids. We were currently at his house where Klaus caught wind that two people were living in in the meantime who had a connection to Ray.

Walking up the steps of the very old house in front of me, I heard Klaus's voice and two out-of-sync heartbeats. The heartbeats confirmed that the people were terrified and didn't know what to do. As I took my place in front of the door, waiting for them to come to me, I heard the clatter of something in the kitchen and then someone sprit towards the front door. Leaning against the door frame, one arm on each side, I waited patiently for my prey to approach. I could hear their heartbeat hammer in their chest, and I couldn't wait to see the owner in person and inhale their scent.

The old wooden door flew open to reveal a young woman in her early twenties. She had dark black hair that curled out from her head and dark eyes to match. Her olive skin had a few blemishes but other than that, she looked fine. Her full lips were parted and she looked shocked to see me standing there. She let out a scream and turned back around to see Klaus walk into the foyer, holding another girl who was blonde, by the neck. The woman looked like she was about to break down crying she was so scared.

"I love it when they run," he said with a smirk on his face and his eyes gleaming with mischief.

He walked forward with the girl and I could hear her heartbeat pound in her chest as well. The scent of their blood was intoxicating and my teeth ached to skin into their skin and have them struggle under my hold.

The woman in front of me spoke, but I couldn't pay attention to her voice. The only thing I heard was the sound of her blood coursing through her body. I grew more and more impatient, wanting to sink my teeth into her flesh already.

Ever since Klaus has brought me back to my old ways, all I can think about is tearing into the first living, breathing, _human _person that I see.

"Thank you, my love," Klaus replied to the woman in a sickening tone. Brushing a few strands of the blonde's hair away from her neck, Klaus looked down at her and began talking. "Now, may my friend come inside?"

I could tell that Klaus had compelled the girl to do as she was told. She let out a couple sobs and a whimper before speaking.

"Yes," she cried out quietly, shaking in his hands. There was a wicked smirk on Klaus's face as he looked down at the girl.

Opening the door slowly, I stepped inside the house and let the screen door shut behind me. My gaze was locked on her pale throat and nothing else. All I wanted to do was tear into her flesh and feed.

"Kill this one quickly," Klaus demanded, shoving her into my arms. My gaze never left her throat and the sound of her blood lured me closer. "Make that one suffer," I caught him saying before he stepped out of the house, leaving me alone to finish off with the two girls. "I'll be in the car."

My grip on the blonde's arm tightened and she started to cry.

"Please don't," she begged for mercy.

She should know that I wasn't capable of mercy anymore. The only thing that I was now was a killer. A monster.

A ripper.

I let my instincts take over and within a second, I felt the veins under my eyes appear and my fangs come out of my gums, aching to bite something. Without warning, I sunk my teeth into her neck and ripped her flesh open, taking a bite of her. She let out a blood curdling scream, knowing that she was going to die. I barely heard the other girl scream as I focused in on the scent of her blood and pulled back to watch her suffer for a second. Her eyes were alert and she looked terrified.

_Perfect, _my conscious thought.

Latching my mouth back on to her throat, I started to tear away at the flesh and let their screams surround me, knowing that they wouldn't be heard from anyone but Klaus. Taking more and more of her blood, I soon felt myself slipping into darkness, letting my inner-predator take control of my body and actions.

* * *

The Southern Comfort Bar was your typical bar filled with men who looked like they had drinking problems and truck stop whores who walked around from table to table. The music was horrible and the sanitation rating was well below excellent.

Klaus wandered over to the bar where a man with long, greasy hair and a goatee that needed trimming. His appearance was casual with an open plaid button down and a gray shirt underneath. His jeans looked worn out and his boats looked like they needed to be thrown out.

"Hey Rick," the man greeted. "Can I get a beer?" he asked, watching as the bartender walked off to get him his drink.

Klaus walked up beside him and leaned against the bar. "Ray?" he asked, looking at the man.

I remained in the shadows of the bar, watching from a distance, listening in on their conversation.

"Ray Sutton?" Klaus questioned, using the man's full name.

"Who wants to know?" the man, Ray, asked before the grabbed the beer bottle that the bartender gave him.

"I've been looking everywhere for you," Klaus said with his signature smirk on his face. "We started in Florida, Pensacola. I met a young chap there who you worked with before you moved to Memphis. Now he directed me to two _lovely_ young women."

_Who I murdered and feed from, _I mentally added, thinking back to that night in the old house where their bodies were all pieced together. After I ripped them apart feeding from them, I came to my senses and felt an inkling of remorse. So, I placed the bodies back together and left the house before I could think about what I had done any further.

"And they led me here," Klaus added after a moment's pause, flickering his eyes back over to Ray to see that he looked unfazed by what he was saying. "To you."

_If you knew what happened to them you wouldn't be so calm. _

"I think I'll be going," Ray said before brushing past Klaus.

Sensing that there was going to be trouble with him, I emerged from the shadows and went to stand a couple of feet behind Ray and Klaus but not before compelling the bartender like I did with every other person in this bar.

Reaching a hand out to stop him, Klaus stepped in front of him, blocking him from the exit.

"Not so fast, mate," he said in a dangerous tone. "You only just got here," Klaus teased. "Now your type, are very hard to come by."

Ray's heartbeat started to skip a few beats before he turned around and bumped into my chest. Pushing him back, I spoke.

"I wouldn't do that."

I leaned against the bar as Ray looked between me and Klaus.

"Vampires," he said, coming to his senses.

"Swiftly swift, Ray," Klaus complimented. "Yes, my friend here is a vampire. He has compelled everyone in the bar so don't look at them for any help." Ray looked around the bar at everyone to see them doing their own things, completely oblivious to the three of us. "I however, am something else. A different kind of monster," he added for theatrics. "I've got some vampire; I've got some wolf."

"You what?" Ray asked, not believing Klaus.

"A hybrid Ray," Klaus said, looking him dead in the eye, watching his reaction. "I'm both."

Ray looked back at me and I could practically smell the fear radiating off of his body. He shifted his stance and Klaus spoke up, filling the silence.

"I want to create more of me," he stated. "Now you being the first werewolf I've come across in many a moon – pun intended, Ray – I need you to direct me to your pack."

Ray looked around once more, feeling nervous before looking back at Klaus.

"So, where can I find them Ray?"

Ray shook his head and spoke up after a second. "You can't compel me; it won't work."

Klaus gave me a look and I inclined my head, knowing what he meant. I looked at the bartender and connected eyes with him before I asked for a Scotch on the rocks. He nodded and set off to go make the drink.

"Tell you what Ray," I started after I pulled a pouch out of my back pocket. I loosened the strings and looked back up at him. "We're going to play a little drinking game. Something I like to call Truth or Wolf's Bane," I said, dumping some wolf's bane into my hand out of the pouch, showing him.

Ray cringed slightly and looked up at my face with nervousness etched into his face.

"Oh, this is going to be fun Ray," Klaus smirked.

* * *

Struggling against the chains that I wrapped around his hands, holding him down, Ray grunted and tried to break free but it was no use. He wasn't going anywhere, anytime soon. Dipping another dart into the Scotch infused with wolf's bane, I listened to his grunts and groans mix in with the horrible music that was playing loudly in the bar. I pushed myself off of the table that I was leaning on and walked over towards Ray but stopped a couple yards away and threw another dart, letting it sink into his neck.

He cried out in pain and a sick part of me couldn't help but relish in the sound of his cries.

"Ray," I sang out while walking towards him to retrieve some of the darts that were impaled in his skin. "You can end this right now. Tell me where your pack is hiding for the full moon."

I pulled a dart out from his chest and then pulled the one in his neck out forcefully, making him wince.

"I can't," he breathed out, sounding tortured to even mutter the words

"I know, I know you live by a code and all that," I said, "but see, he's not going to let me stop until you tell me," I pointed out, talking about Klaus. "And I do whatever he says, that's the way it goes around here."

Hearing some female greet Klaus, I listened in on their conversation and overheard that my brother was at the house back in Memphis. When Klaus thanked her and she walked away, I was in front of him in a split second. Klaus didn't look too happy and I didn't blame him. My brother was getting in the way and I couldn't have him screw up hiding Elena from Klaus.

"My brother is still on our trail?" I asked.

"He's getting closer," he confirmed. "I'm going to have to take care of that."

"No," I said, catching his arm before he could walk off. "Let me handle that."

Looking back at me with suspicion crossing his features, Klaus asked, "Why should I let you leave?"

"Because you know I'll come back," I replied quickly.

"Do I?" he challenged.

"You saved my brother's life," I supplied. "I'm in your service."

Klaus gave me a once over, narrowing his eyes at me and I remained unfazed, hoping that the odds would work out in my favor.

"It all sounds so tedious and indentured," Klaus said after groaning. "Aren't you having the least bit of fun?" he asked with a smile as he motioned over to Ray who was still struggling at the chains tied around his arms.

"I'll make sure that my brother doesn't bother us anymore," I said, avoiding the question.

Without waiting for an answer, I walked past Klaus and out of the bar before compelling someone to let me take their car and heading back to Mystic Falls.

* * *

Patiently waiting for my brother to arrive at the News Station where Andie was "held up at work", I stood still and listened for him. Not a second later, I heard him talking on the phone before hanging up and looking down at the ground where Andie's purse was under his shoe. He looked up and I saw his ice blue eyes narrow when he saw me.

"Stefan," he said with venom dripping off of my name.

"Hello, brother," I said in an emotionless voice.

There was a moment of silence before he spoke up.

"You don't write. You don't call," he said.

Cutting him off, I spoke up. "I need you to stop following me. You're causing some _problems._"

"With who? Klaus?" he asked quickly, wanting to get answers. "I'm supposed to care what he thinks?"

"What you're _supposed _to do," I started, looking at him with serious eyes, "is let me go."

Damon remained quiet for a moment, processing what I said before he slowly started to walk towards me.

"Saw your latest artwork in Tennessee," he pressed. "Walking a fine line there, my friend. Keep that up and there _will _be no saving you."

Letting out a dry laugh, I shook my head at my brother. Did he honestly think that he could talk me into stopping something that I couldn't control? If he did, he had another thing coming for him.

"See the thing is," I said still laughing a bit, "I don't need any saving. I just want you to let me go," I said, not knowing what it was that he had a hard time understanding about that.

"You know, I got a Birthday Girl at home who isn't going to let me do that," he said, referring to Elena.

Seeing as though he played the "girlfriend card" that I was supposed to fall for, I nodded my head, letting him believe he was right for a moment. Then deciding that I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction, I spoke up.

"You know, maybe I haven't made my point," I said, drawing it out.

Damon looked at me with a smirk on his face, wondering what I could do next.

"Hey, Andie?" I called out to the woman who was his distraction for a couple months now. "Are you still there?"

"Andie?" he asked, wondering what I was doing.

"Damon," she croaked out. "I can't move, Damon. He told me that I can't move."

"No, no, no, no," Damon said looking up at her, trying to calm her down. "It's okay Andie. Stay calm." Lowering his gaze to me, his eyes narrowed and he looked pissed off. "Not cool, brother."

I gave him a small smirk, knowing that my plan was going to get the message through after all."

"Oh, come on," I prompted. "A little cool. No?"

Damon walked closer to me, until his fuming face was right in front of mine.

"Hey, Andie," I called out once more. "You can move now."

Damon automatically looked up at her to where she was standing on the ledge that cut off. "No. No, no, no, no, no. No! No!" he shouted, trying to walk over to catch her.

Pushing him back to the beam in front of me while I had a hand around his throat, I held him there as he watched her plummet to the ground with nothing to break her fall but the cold, hard, cement floor. When her body hit the floor, there was a loud snap that alerted me that her spinal column and most of the bones in her body had broken. I could no longer hear her heartbeat and knew that she was killed on impact.

"I said," I huffed out, looking at my brother who had wide eyes. "Let. Me. Go."

Letting go of him, he rushed over to Andie and examined her limp body, hoping for a sign that she was alive. But she was as dead as a door nail.

Running out of the room with my vampire speed, I got back in the car and headed back for the bar where Klaus was bound to be, toying with Ray and waiting for me.

* * *

Walking back into the bar to see Ray with blood all over him and Klaus standing above him with a triumphant smile on his face. Ray muttered something and Klaus responded before snapping his neck and letting Ray's limp body fall onto the pool table beneath him.

Klaus looked up at me and looked the least bit surprised.

"You're back," he noted.

"Did you doubt me?" I asked.

"Not for a second," Klaus responded. "You passed the test. You still care for your brother. For your old life," he whispered.

"No," I retorted, walking to the bar behind me. "I don't care about anything anymore."

"You put on a good show, Stefan," Klaus said, following me to the bar. "I almost believe you. Let's hope for your brother's sake." Standing behind me, Klaus spoke. "You never stop caring for family do you?"

Keeping a straight face, I looked forward and ignored Klaus and a small part of me that agreed with him. I didn't care about my brother and my old life anymore. I was a ripper and this was my life now.

"And every time you feed, the blood makes it easier to let go," he stated.

I looked around the bar and anywhere except for him, not wanting him to see that he was right.

"I'll be right back," I said before getting up and walking out of the bar to get some air.

The moment I stepped out into the warm, Tennessee air, I let myself feel my emotions for once and was hit by a wall of them all.

Anger, sorrow, pity, terror, hurt. You name it; I felt it. Everything came crashing down on my shoulders and I felt unbearable pain well up in my chest.

Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I looked down at the screen and dialed the number that I knew by heart before putting it to my ear. I just needed to hear her voice once more. I needed to know that she was okay.

I needed to hear Elena tell me that it was going to be alright.

After a couple of rings, she finally picked up the phone.

"Hello?" her familiar, sweet voice flooded from the speaker.

I remained quiet, hurting, even though I heard her voice.

"Hello?" she asked again. "Stefan?" Elena asked after taking a deep breath. She sounded shocked and surprised.

Trying to speak, I couldn't find any words to say to her to tell her that I was sorry. No words were enough to express my sorrow.

"Stefan, if this is you," she said in a soft tone, trying to remain strong. "You'll be okay."

There was a pause and it took everything for me not to let all of my emotions out. All the hurt, pain, and anger were bubbling to the surface. But most of all, love was there. Love for her.

"Stefan, I love you. Hold on to that," she said finally.

Nodding my head, even though she couldn't see me, I agreed to hold on to that.

"Never let that go."

* * *

**A/N: I think this was the longest chapter that I have ever written. Like ever. I hope you liked this first chapter. In the next chapter it's Hybrid Hunting Time and I am excited to write that chapter. I hope you stay tuned to see what happens. **

**One of my OC characters will come in in the third chapter. I'm excited for you to meet her. She sure is something.**

**Review for more and stay tuned for the next chapter. **


	2. The Hybid

**A/N: Okay, I will be out of town for the next two weeks and I won't have my laptop with me so I can't update this story or any stories during my vacation. I hope that you understand. When I get back I will update. You have my word on that. **

**Anyways, here is the next chapter. It is based off of the episode: **The Hybrid**.**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer is in the first chapter. **

* * *

**The Hybrid**

Hiking up the Smoky Mountains while carrying a limp Ray was not one of my top ten best experiences. He wasn't exactly the lightest person and the Original walking next to me wasn't the best company to keep. He kept trying to bring up my brother and my past life back in Mystic Falls, but I would just ignore him. Klaus knew that I didn't like the topics but he kept pushing anyway. He soon dropped it though and I was left alone with my thoughts, until he spoke again.

"You okay?" the dirty blonde hybrid asked me. "Is Ray getting heavy?"

"I'm fine," I said snippily.

"Are you sure about that?" he pressed. "You know we have been walking for quite some time now. Do you need some water? A little sit down?" he teased.

Growing annoyed with him, I bit back everything I really wanted to say and settled for something else to say.

"You know, I get that we're stuck together," I said in a tone that wouldn't be considered the kindest. "But if maybe we could just skip the chit-chat, it would be great."

Klaus retorted right after I finished talking, making my blood boil just in the slightest.

"So much brooding," he groaned. "Your self-loathing is suffocating me, my friend."

"Maybe it's because I'm a little tired of hunting werewolves," I suggested, shifting Ray on my back a little. "We've been at it all summer."

Coming to a standstill in front of a clearing in the woods, Klaus spoke.

"Thanks to our friend, Ray, we've found ourselves a pack."

In front of us, there were at least a dozen people talking to each other and walking around the sight, getting ready for the full moon tonight. Their heartbeats echoed in my ears, but their scent wasn't appealing to me in the slightest. The wolves were completely oblivious to the hybrid standing in front of them, their werewolf friend in transition, and the ripper in front of them.

After examining them for another second, I started to walk forward and caught the attention of everyone. They all looked at me with confusion on their faces and the conversations died down until there was silence. I walked into the middle of the camp, where everyone was surrounding me and tossed Ray's body down on the ground. They all looked at the body in horror, for he had blood all over him.

"Ray," a brunette haired girl cried out, rushing over to him. "Oh, my God."

She checked for a pulse and when she found none, she muttered under her breath. "What's going on?"

A man with sandy blonde hair walked over to her but kept his eyes on myself the entire time, not knowing what to do. The woman looked up and her eyes were wide.

"Who are you?" she asked, keeping a steady voice.

I just continued to peer down at her, unmoving from my stance. The more terror and fear I could inflict on them, the quicker this whole ordeal would be over with. Walking up from behind me, Klaus looked around the camp and his gaze fell on the girl clinging to Ray's body.

"The important question is who am I?" he said in all seriousness. "Please forgive the intrusion. My name is Klaus."

The man who was hovering over the woman stood up straight and looked between us with a horrified expression. The woman slowly rose and backed up behind the man, having a shield from Klaus.

"You're the hybrid," she stated calmly.

"You've heard of me," Klaus grinned from ear to ear. "Fantastic."

Letting it sink in for everybody, Klaus slowly sauntered over to a log where he sat down and looked around the pack with a smirk on his face and a gleam in his blue eyes. I followed behind him and sat down on the opposite end of the log, resting my legs for a second.

"It's fascinating actually," Klaus started.

Knowing that he was going to launch into his whole story and what he was, I set my elbow down on one of my knees and held my face in my hand, waiting for the story to end. I knew every single detail there was to this story due to the amount of times he has told it to countless people.

"I'm a werewolf who isn't held to the moon," he said. "A vampire who doesn't burn in the sun."

Taking a look at the brunette in front of Klaus, I could see her shaking in fear just like everyone else.

"I'm a hybrid."

With a loud gasp, Ray awoke and started to writhe on the floor. Taking that as my cue, I got up from the log and peered down at him for a second. He looked horrible, I wasn't going to lie. But he was in transition so it was understandable.

"Excellent timing, Ray," Klaus praised. "Very dramatic."

The whole pack whispered frantically to each other, talking about Ray and wondering what happened to him.

Ray flipped over from his back so he was laying on his stomach and looked around to see everyone. He took ragged breaths and tried to calm down.

"What's happening to me?" he asked, groaning in pain and taking quick breaths.

"Stefan," Klaus prompted, telling me that it was time for me to talk.

"Are any of you human?" I asked looking around the camp, making sure that I was heard by speaking loudly. They remained quiet and I grew agitated in the slightest. "Your friend here, he needs human blood," I said while looking down at Ray and then back up at the people surrounding us. "To complete his transition to be a vampire. If he doesn't get it, he will die."

Everyone was pale in the face, shaking, and looking around, trying to avoid my eyes. I noticed though, that the brunette haired woman and the blonde haired male were staring at me directly. The man shifted a bit and looked down at Ray.

"He doesn't need much," Klaus added. "Just a sip."

Still, there was silence and I could tell that Klaus was getting impatient.

"Anyone? A boyfriend? A girlfriend along for the ride?"

Klaus turned to the blonde haired man and a smirk appeared on his lips.

"You," he said, narrowing his eyes a bit.

Not giving him a chance to speak up, Klaus bit his arm which cause him to groan and yell in pain. Quickly pulling away and shoving him to me, the second my hands caught him, he was on the ground in front of Ray. I held his arm out for Ray to see the blood while Klaus controlled the brunette who was trying to get to the blonde. Taking a breath, the smell of the man's blood clouded my head and I wanted to do nothing more than to rip into him and suck him dry. I could already imagine the taste of his blood. My mouth watered just thinking about it.

"If you don't drink it Ray, I will," I said to him, making him look up at me. "The problem is, I don't know how to stop."

Ray looked scared when he heard me, but his expression changed to hunger the second he took a breath. Slowly crawling forward, I let go of the man's arm when Ray took it in his hands and lowered his head to the open wound. Ray began to feed off of the man ravenously, making my gums ache to feed as well.

I had to control my hunger though. I couldn't rip into him and take away the only blood supply that Klaus had for the hybrids.

Klaus spoke to the pack and I ignored him, while I tried to control my hunger. I tried my best to keep it in check while my inner predator begged to be unleashed.

* * *

Tossing another werewolf's body on the ground who was in transition, I turned back around to see Klaus giving the human man some of his blood to heal so that there would be more to go around later. After telling the human to relax, Klaus got up and looked at the hybrid Ray who was shaking uncontrollably.

I leaned up against the tree and put a hand in my pocket, relaxing for a little bit, watching the scene before me play out.

Ray muttered incomprehensible words and shivered even though the warm Tennessee air was starting to make me sweat a little bit.

"Well, he's through the transition," Klaus pointed out, looking over his first hybrid. "He should be feeling better soon."

"So is this your master plan?" I asked, not that impressed. "To build an army of hybrid slaves?"

"No," Klaus snapped quickly. "Not slaves. Soldiers. Comrades," he said.

"For what war, might I ask?" I pressed. There had to be a reason that Klaus was so hell-bent on creating these monsters.

"Oh, you don't arm yourself after war has been declared, Stefan," he answered. "You build your army so big that no ever dares pick the fight." There was a sinister smirk on his face by the end of his explanation.

"What makes you so sure that they'll be loyal?" I asked. No one could be loyal to Klaus for long. He would make you want to rip your hair out before your first day with him was over.

"It's not difficult to be loyal when you're on the winning team. That's something that you'll learn once you shake that _horribly _massive chip off of your shoulder."

Giving a dry laugh, I pushed myself off of the tree that I was leaning on.

"That's why you keep me around," I said. "To witness an attitude adjustment."

When I looked back at Klaus, I saw that he was looking at Ray with confusion all over his face. Ray's eyes were now leaking blood down his cheeks and his mouth was spilling out blood ever so slowly. That didn't look right at all.

"You'll know why I'm keeping you around when I have decided," Klaus said firmly. "Something is wrong."

Bending down to get a closer look at Ray, I tilted his head to face me and wasn't impressed with what I saw.

"That shouldn't be happening should it?"

"Obviously," Klaus snarled.

* * *

Ray still continued to shake and the blood on his face had now crusted over and he looked absolutely miserable and horrible.

"You said I would feel better," Ray choked out. "Why don't I feel better?"

Klaus angrily crossed his arms over his chest, not knowing what the problem was. He was upset that his plan wasn't coming together but I really didn't care. Right now, this was just a waste of my time and I wanted to feed.

"Some master race," I commented, taking up my old spot where I was leaning on the tree.

"Lose the attitude," Klaus demanded.

The brunette haired girl from before jolted awake and looked around like a lost puppy.

"Derek," Klaus called out to the sandy haired male who he had compelled. "Come feed your girlfriend," he said, sounding quite annoyed.

Getting ready to open his flesh for the girl, Klaus was interrupted by Ray letting out a growl and running off with his new vampire speed. I watched him run away and then turned back to Klaus, wondering what he was going to do.

"Go get him," Klaus said.

Finally nodding my head after groaning silently, I raced after him and caught him not a second later, tackling him to the forest floor. Ray fought against me and tried to pry me off but I wasn't going to let him get up. Opening his mouth, Ray bit down on my arm and pulled away, escaping from my grip while I held my arm in pain and groaned. Being bit by a werewolf – or hybrid in his case – didn't feel good at all. It hurt like hell. I became angry and felt the urge to rip him apart for biting me.

About to chase after him, I was stopped in my pursuit when I heard two very familiar voices.

Damon and Elena.

Turning to face the direction that their voices were coming from, I walked over to a small clearing between trees and looked down the mountain at Elena, Damon, and Alaric hiking up the mountain.

What the hell were they doing here? Didn't Damon know that Klaus was here and that Elena was supposed to be dead?

Hearing a crunching noise behind me, I turned to see Klaus behind me with a murderous expression on his face.

"Where did he go?" Klaus asked.

"He got away," I said, quickly walking past him, hoping that he didn't hear Elena and Damon. "Forget him. Let's go."

Klaus snatched my arm and looked down at the bite on my arm that had gotten far worse in the past couple of seconds.

"Fatal werewolf bite," he noted. "Ouch."

Tearing my arm out of his grip, I looked down at it and then back up at him.

"Yeah, I'm going to need your blood to heal me," I said.

"Well, I'll tell you what," Klaus said with a sly smirk surfacing on his face. "You find Ray and then, I'll heal you."

I looked at him, seeing if he was actually being serious or not. He couldn't be. I could die from this bite. Letting out a forced laugh, I shook my head.

"You can't be serious."

"You better hurry," Klaus advised. "Because that bite looks nasty."

Brushing past me, he walked back to the clearing where all his soon to be hybrids were, leaving me to either find the hybrid or face a painful death trying to.

* * *

Upon hearing fighting somewhere near me, I took it that it was Ray and some other werewolf fighting. I walked over to where the noise was coming from and wasn't surprised when I saw Damon struggling to hold Ray at an arm's length so he wouldn't bite him.

Shaking my head in annoyance, I walked over to Ray and plunged my hand into his chest, ripping his heart out without hesitation. When my hand was out of his chest, Ray dropped to the ground dead and Damon took a step back to recover his breath.

"Fancy meeting you here," Damon said after a moment.

"What part of don't follow me anymore," I started, pitching Ray's heart away, "got lost in translation, Damon?"

"Might want to take it up with your girlfriend," he retorted.

Sending him a glare, I didn't say anything.

"You don't want her chasing you? I'd stop with the late night phone calls," he spat.

Shaking my head, trying to play it off, I dented.

"I didn't call her."

Damon looked at me and rolled his eyes.

"Sure you did," he remarked.

"Well, she has to," I said after taking a breath to clear my thoughts. "Because I'm never coming back."

Damon looked at me for a second in disbelief.

"I want you to get her home," I stated. "See if you can keep her there this time."

Damon nodded in agreement and walked away, leaving me all alone with the dead hybrid on the ground next to me.

* * *

Walking over to a clearing where I could hear their voices, I saw Elena, Damon, and Alaric get into their car, getting ready to go home. Elena looked upset but I was glad that she was leaving. She didn't need to be in any danger ever again.

Before she, or anyone could look up to see me, I raced away, picking up Ray's body and returning to the camp.

* * *

Throwing the dead body down on the ground in front of Klaus, I clutched my arm, trying to stop the bite from bleeding out more.

"They went rabid," Klaus said numbly. "Some of them I killed, the others just bled out."

I wasn't really focused on what he was saying since the pain in my arm had now spread throughout my entire body. I couldn't move without hurting myself and each breath I took felt like someone was stepping on my chest.

"In the end," Klaus started again, "they're all dead."

He was silent for a moment as he looked at me but then rage consumed him and he lashed out, throwing the beer bottle in his hand a tree, making it shatter. He let out multiple screams and staggered back a little before turning around to face me.

"I did everything I was told!" he shouted. "I should be able to turn them. I broke the curse. I killed a werewolf. I killed a vampire. I killed the doppelgänger."

My body went stiff at the mention of Elena and tried to relax so I wouldn't give anything away. I needed to keep her and her life a secret and so did Damon. He needed to control her and keep her on a leash. I couldn't have her out here looking for me when Klaus could find her at any given moment and snap her neck for double crossing him.

Klaus looked up at me with a hurt expression that soon turned into an expression that was emotionless.

"You look like hell," he stated.

"Last I checked, I'm dying and you don't want to heal me."

Klaus looked down at my arm and then at Ray.

"I had to take him out," I said. "I didn't have a choice. I failed you and I'm sorry. Do what you have to do."

Klaus was quiet for a moment before saying, "It should have worked."

He walked over to where he was sitting before and grabbed an empty beer bottle. Biting down on his wrist, he poured some of his blood into the bottle before handing it to me.

"Bottoms up," he said. "We're leaving."

He took one last look around at all the bodies and then looked back at me.

"You're the only comrade I have left," he said before walking off into the forest.

Bringing the bottle of his blood to my lips, I drained the contents and felt my arm head up instantly. I threw the bottle to the side and walked after Klaus, knowing that I had to follow him and that Elena and her secret were safe from Klaus at the moment.

* * *

**A/N: I won't be able to update this story or any story of mine for at least two weeks, but I hope you liked this chapter. I am going on vacation with my cousins so that should be fun. Again, sorry that I won't be able to update. But the second I get home, I'll try and update whatever you want me to. **

**That is why you need to go on my profile and vote on which story you want me to update when I get back. Whichever story has the most votes, I'll update that one first and then so on. **

**Thanks for understanding and sorry again. **

**-Nicole xo**


	3. The End of the Affair

**A/N: I had a very relaxing vacation and everything has been going fine since. I'm in a terrific mood and I am ready to write this chapter. **

**This chapter is going to go off the episode mostly but I will be adding my own twists and scenes because my OC character is introduced in this chapter! **

**Since Klaus took Stefan's memories about the twenties away, I'm going to have to do the flash backs in third person point of view. I'm not a big fan of switching POV styles, but it is necessary for this story at the moment. **

**I hope you enjoy this chapter. **

* * *

**The End of the Affair**

As the black SUV pulled into an empty warehouse, Klaus looked over at me with a smirk on his face.

"Welcome back to Chicago, Stefan."

He slid out of the SUV and I followed behind him, looking around the empty warehouse, wondering why we were here in the first place.

"What are we doing here?" I asked him as he opened a door that opened up to a nice view of the city.

"I know how much you loved it here," Klaus said while looking out over the city with the smallest hint of a smile on his lips. "Bringing back memories of the good old Ripper days."

"I blacked out most of them," I replied, not really in the mood to go down memory lane when there were holes in my memory and partly beacause I didn't want to have this conversation with Klaus. "A lot of blood. A lot of partying. The details are all a blur."

"Well," Klaus said, turning to face me. "That is a crying shame. The details is what makes a legend."

* * *

_The back of the car was crowded as the two monsters and the poor human girl were all seated close to one another. As the vampires fed from the human – one from her neck, the other from her shoulder – one of the hands of the male vampire found its self on the upper thigh of the female vampire's leg, caressing the smooth skin there, taunting her. Tingles and electric currents shot throughout her body at his touch and all she could think about was the other places that his hands could touch. _

_The woman pulled herself away from the girl's shoulder and faced the man in front of her with dark, lustful eyes. When he pulled away himself, he looked at her with a look just as intense before grabbing her face in his hands and bringing his lips crashing into hers. The blood on their lips made the kiss so much more desirable and thrilling, causing the woman to climb over the human girl's limp body and straddle the man in the back seat of the car. His hands roamed her body that was covered in a grey, green beaded, silver sequined dress that had a round neckline. Her fingers tangled in his light brown hair and pulled at the ends making him groan into the kiss. _

_Breaking the kiss, the woman pulled back and adjusted her dress and curly, red hair and licked the excess blood off of her lips before looking back at the man she was sitting on. His green eyes pierced her gaze and she watched him as he leaned back and examined her. She gave him a small smile that revealed her dimples before smoothing his hair back into place. Looking over at the deceased girl, the woman plucked a flower out of her hair and tucked it into the man's suit pocket, giving him a smile before leaning forward and licking the blood around his mouth off of his face. _

_"Tastes so good," she whispered into his ear before pulling back and getting out of the car._

_He fought to control the urge inside of him to pull her back into the car, rip her dress off, and ravish her for the rest of the night. Once he had his balance back, he pushed himself out of the car and held his arm out for her to take. Curling her hand around his bicep and giving it a squeeze, the two walked over to the door at the back of the club. The man rasped his knuckles on the door and not a second later, the door opened for the two of them, allowing them to enter the club. As they walked through the back hallway, they could both hear the music get louder and the scent of fresh blood filled their nostrils. _

_The man looked down at the lady on his arm and looked into her deep hazel eyes for a moment. She tore her gaze away from him and walked into the club where the sound of music, the scent of booze, blood, cigars, and perfume surrounded them. _

_Gloria, the lady singing on the stage, looked up at them and gave them both a smile before speaking into the microphone. _

_"Guess who my eyes have just spied ladies and gents," she cooed. "Mr. Salvatore and Ms. Lancaster."_

_"Hey Gloria," Emma Lancaster shouted over to her friend at the mic. Looking back at Stefan, Emma gave him a smirk before pulling him towards a waiter who had a tray full of drinks. _

_Reaching a hand out to grab the last drink on the tray for the lovely vampire on his arm, he wasn't pleased when someone else snatched the drink before he could. Turning to look at the person who snatched the drink from him, he was surprised when he saw a blonde lady walking off with the drink. _

_"Please, help yourself," he said to the woman._

_When the woman turned around to face Stefan, he felt Emma's grip on his arm tighten. _

_"I always do," she said in a slurred tone. Her eyes flickered from Stefan's face to Emma's quickly before she started to walk over to Emma. "Careful Ms. Lancaster." The woman took one of her gloves off before wiping her thumb around the corners of her mouth and bringing her thumb to her lips. "You're still wearing your dinner."_

_Emma and Stefan tensed up immediately and watched as the woman walked away from them with a sly smirk on her face. _

_Looking up at Stefan, Emma gave him a confused look not quite understanding what just happened. _

_"Is she one, too?" she asked him quietly. _

_Stefan nodded his head and turned around, pulling Emma with him towards the bar, trying to take Emma's mind off of the incident. He didn't want her to worry too much about what just happened. _

* * *

As I looked out over the city, I racked my brain for some memories of my past here in Chicago and I could remember most of it, like a few of the places that I had been to, the sound of someone's laughter, and a head of dull red hair that belonged to a woman. But there was one large gap in my memory that I couldn't remember and it bothered me to say the least.

"Chicago was magical," Klaus said from behind me.

Pushing myself off of the door frame that I was leaning on, I turned around to face him. "Yeah, well, I'll take your word for it." I slowly started to walk back to the SUV that was waiting for us. "Like I said, I don't remember most of it."

"Down to business then," Klaus said right after me before shutting the door that overlooked the city.

"Why am I still with you?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest. . All these cryptic things that Klaus had been saying to me since I agreed to stay with him were starting to eat at me. "We had our fun. Your hybrids failed. I mean don't you want to move on?"

"We're going to see my favorite witch," Klaus said, ignoring my question all together. "If anyone can help us with our hybrid problem, it's her."

* * *

As we walked into Gloria's Bar, an old bar that served as a club back in the twenties, I was shocked to see the place in such good condition. The place was empty and our footsteps echoed throughout the place.

"Looks familiar doesn't it?" Klaus asked as he walked in front of me.

Leaning on one of the banisters, I looked around the place once more.

"I can't believe this place is still here," I said.

There was a moment of silence as we both looked around the place before there were footsteps, a heartbeat, and a voice.

"You've got to be kidding me," the sharp voice of a woman rang out, causing my head to snap in her direction.

There was a tall woman standing there who was familiar. She was slender and her dark skin tone was a very big contrast to her pale white hair. She had dark eyes that looked murderous. She clearly wasn't happy with who she saw.

"A hybrid walks into a bar and says to the bar—" Klaus was cut off by the woman who was clearly unentertained.

"Stop. Just because you're invincible, doesn't make you funny," she snapped. Looking at me now, she nodded her head at me. "I remember you."

"Yeah, you're Gloria," I responded.

She nodded her head and looked me up and down.

"Shouldn't you be—" Gloria cut me off, knowing what I was going to say already.

"Old and dead? Now if I die, who is going to run this place?"

"Gloria is a very powerful witch," Klaus added.

"I can slow the aging down some," she said. "Don't worry. It will catch up to me one day."

Klaus remained silent for a moment and then turned to me. "Stefan, why don't you go fix us up something from behind the bar?"

Shaking my head quickly I agreed to and walked over to the bar where I grabbed glasses and started to make drinks slowly. I listened in on their conversation as they started to talk, wondering what was going to go on.

"What am I doing wrong?" Klaus asked the witch.

Grabbing bottles of alcohol and mixing them together, I continued to listen in on their conversation halfheartedly while I looked at the many pictures on a corkboard behind the bar. Two pictures in particular caught my eye.

Ripping them off of the wall and bringing them closer to my face, I looked down at the first one and saw myself holding a young lady by the waist close to me while my lips were pressed down on hers. Her arms were around my shoulders and she seemed to be hugging me closer to her. Looking at the other picture, I saw Klaus and myself hugging like we were brothers with smiles on our faces.

"What is this?" I asked Klaus once he and Gloria were done talking with each other.

"Well, I told you Stefan, Chicago is a magical place," he answered.

"But this is me with you," I said, showing him the picture.

"More importantly," Klaus said walking over to me. "This is you with the lovely Emma," he added, pointing to the girl in the first picture.

"Who is she?" I asked.

"Emma," Klaus called out, his voice echoing throughout the bar. "You can come out now."

I looked over at a dark corner where a figure emerged from the dark. The woman from the picture suddenly stood before me with her head bowed and there was a slight pain in my chest when I saw her. Her dull red hair was straight and fell down her shoulders, accenting her pale skin tone. The dress she had on was fairly short and stopped towards the bottom of her thighs. The skirt of the dress was half white and half red while the top of the dress was black. Her feet were in heels that gave her a couple extra inches in height.

Slowly lifting her head, her hazel eyes locked with mine and I couldn't help the breath that escaped my lips upon seeing her face. She was beautiful and a small part of me felt attached to her.

Emma, the woman, stood in front of me and didn't move. It seemed as if she was frozen by staring at me.

"Emma, darling, you remember Stefan don't you?" Klaus asked, wrapping an arm around her shoulders, walking over to me.

Slowly nodding her head, the look of surprise was still on her face but was soon replaced with a look of sadness and anger.

"Klaus," Gloria barked from behind them, causing him to turn towards her. "You stop taunting her. Haven't you already done enough?"

Motioning for the girl to come to her, Gloria opened her arms as Emma ran towards her and started to cry into her chest.

"Get Rebekah and bring her to me," Gloria spat before walking away with the girl, trying to calm her down.

* * *

After asking Klaus repeatedly why I couldn't remember him or the girl Emma back at the bar and getting rejected I had finally had enough.

"What the hell is going on?" I asked in an aggressive tone. "Answer me."

Klaus was silent for a second before he spoke up. "Let's just say we didn't get off to a brilliant start. In fact, I hated you."

* * *

_The urge to feed took over and Stefan's fangs extended from his gums and he sunk his teeth down into the woman sitting in between him and Emma. Her blood tasted just like any other human's blood but it was satisfying. Emma soon joined him in feeding from the woman. Reaching an arm over and sliding it up Emma's bare skin until his hand reached her neck, pulling her face away from the woman's neck so that she was looking at Stefan who had pulled away as well. _

_His eyes flickered to her lips and a second later, their lips met and they were in a passionate lip lock. Stefan pulled his lips away from Emma's, much to her dismay, but trailed blazing kisses down her neck and onto her chest. _

_"The legendary ripper is letting his meal go, just like that?" a cruel voice asked, interrupting Emma and Stefan. _

_Stefan pulled away from Emma and an inhuman growl made its way out of his throat. Turning around to face the person who interrupted them, Stefan saw a man with sandy blonde hair and blue eyes. _

_"There are better things available to me at the moment than blood," he snapped, referring to Emma. _

_"I guess I was just a bit disappointed in what I saw than what I imagined," the man said. _

_Stefan started to shift to get up, but feeling Emma's hand clamp down on his arm and pull him back made him stop. She didn't want him to get into any trouble and cause her to become upset. _

_"Sorry to disappoint," Stefan spat, "but pleasing people just isn't something that I waste time on."_

_The man gave a small smirk at him before the lady that Stefan and Emma bumped into before came over to them and joined the conversation. _

_"Let's go," she said to the man. "I'm bored."_

_"Then go, Rebekah," the man said without looking away from Stefan and Emma. _

_The woman, Rebekah, sent the man a glare and then plopped down in the booth that Emma and Stefan were seated at. _

_"I'm not leaving without you, brother," she said. _

_Emma was confused as to what was going on and Stefan was beyond pissed that he had been interrupted with Emma and that they made themselves become involved in the situation. Rebekah and the man however were completely comfortable with the situation at hand it seemed. _

_"Do you just invite yourselves into other people's business?" Stefan asked the two._

_"Stefan," Emma warned, not wanting to end the night on a bad note. _

_"No," he responded. "They can't just welcome themselves into our lives like this, Emma."_

_"You have a mouth on you, Stefan Salvatore," the man commented, sitting down next to Rebekah. "I don't know if I quite like that."_

_"I'm not quite sure if I like you," Stefan retorted._

* * *

"On top of knowing two Originals, I had a girl that I completely forgot about?" I asked, trying to wrap my mind around what Klaus had just told me about my past.

"If you can't handle it, don't ask," Klaus shrugged as he walked towards the coffins that took up some space in the back of the warehouse.

Following him slowly, I let it all sink in not really believing that I could have blocked it all out. From what Klaus had told me, it seemed that I really cared, or at least lusted, for this girl Emma. Why would I forget someone like that? And how could I have forgotten Klaus and his sister?

When I finally was standing beside Klaus, I looked down at the girl in the coffin. Her face was grey and looked like it was rotting but other than her skin, everything else looked like it was in mint condition minus the dagger in her chest. Her hair looked nice and her clothes looked new but out of date.

"I don't remember her," I said.

"Don't tell her that," Klaus said. "Her temper is worse than mine." Pulling the dagger that was in her chest out, Klaus looked down at the girl and gave her a half smile. "Time to wake up little sister."

"What else is there about my past that I don't know that you do?" I asked, trying to get some information out of Klaus.

"All will be revealed in good time," Klaus answered. He continued to stare at his sister who remained stationary in her coffin.

"Any day now Rebekah," he said after a moment of silence. "She's just being dramatic."

"Look, why don't you just tell me what the hell is going on," I pressed as I crossed my arms over my chest and looked at Klaus, needing answers. "I mean, you obviously want me here for a reason right?"

"Well, you have many useful talents," Klaus noted.

Nodding my head in disbelief, I waited for him to continue.

"In fact, I learned some of my favorite tricks from you," he said.

* * *

_"So Stefan," Niklaus started as he lounged back in the booth. "Enlighten me; what makes you so untouchable?"_

_Putting the wine glass that was at his lips back down on the table, Stefan met his gaze with a glare and leaned back in the booth, getting comfortable. _

_"When people fear you or what they heard about you scares them, you find out that people won't get in your way," Stefan answered. "If they don't get in my way, they're fine. The people who do get in my way are made to be examples."_

_"Examples?" Niklaus asked. _

_Stefan nodded his head, not going any further on the subject. _

_"Tell me," Rebekah started, making Stefan's gaze move to her. "What brought you to Emma here?"_

_"I don't think that's any of your business," Emma said, answering the question before Stefan could even open his mouth. _

_The blonde vampire narrowed her eyes at the other female vampire and squared her jaw while Emma leaned back into Stefan's body. _

_"Where the hell is my wife?" a man much shorter than Stefan shouted at the four sitting at the booth._

_"I don't know," Stefan replied after looking between everyone in the booth with a mocking facial expression. It was time to show the inviting guests the show. "I give up."_

_"You think you're so tough?" the man questioned. "Hiding in your bar? Drinking your liquor? A call to Chicago P.D. might set you straight."_

_Rebekah, Niklaus, and Emma all laughed at the man's empty threat while Stefan sat there, enjoying the attention. Stefan looked down at Emma and watched as she pointed to a woman coming towards them._

_"Lila," she cooed in her most innocent tone, beckoning her forward. "Lila, please come here for a second."_

_"Oh, thank God," the man said as he wrapped his arm around the brunette's shoulders. "Come on. We're leaving."_

_Catching the man's arm, Stefan stopped him from going any further. _

_"Oh, no," Stefan said, looking up at the man. The tiny man looked down at Stefan and met his eyes, allowing him to be compelled. "You're sitting."_

_The man slowly moved over to sit at the empty space at the end of the booth next to Niklaus while Stefan scooted over to make room for Lila to sit down. Taking a hold of one of Lila's hands, Stefan pulled her glove off and exposed her wrist to everyone. After he set the glove down on the table, he reached into a pocket in his suit and pulled out a knife, switching it open. That drew the attention of Rebekah, Niklaus, and the man in._

_"Stefan, don't be mean," Emma teased. _

_"What the hell are you doing?" the man next to Niklaus asked nervously. _

_Bringing Lila's wrist over an empty wine glass, Stefan pushed the blade of the knife down on her wrist and allowed the blood to drip into the glass for a second before putting the knife back in his pocket. Lila didn't make a sound or wince which seemed to please Rebekah and Niklaus. Looking at everyone in the booth, Stefan turned to Lila and thanked her and told her to go bandage her wrist up. The woman complied silently and left the booth, leaving the four vampires and human all alone. _

_"I'd like you to join me for a drink," Stefan proposed as he pushed the glass of blood towards the man across from him before lounging back and wrapping an arm around Emma. _

_"What kind of sick freaks are you?" the man stuttered. _

_"I said," Stefan said, motioning to the blood. "Drink."_

_Slowly picking up the glass in front of him, the man brought it to his lips and took the smallest sip possible before choking on it. _

_"I didn't catch your name," the ripper said, leaning forward._

_"Go to Hell," the man said quickly causing the siblings to laugh. "Liam. Liam Grant," the man said right after. _

_"Liam Grant," Stefan sang out. "Have another sip, Liam." _

_Niklaus picked up a glass of wine and touched rims with Liam's glass of blood before downing the alcohol. Liam looked down at the blood and took a small sip._

_"Finish it," Stefan demanded, leaving the man no choice but to finish the glass since he was under Stefan's compulsion._

_Liam tipped the glass up and finished the contents of the glass before slamming it back down on the table in disgust. Everyone laughed at the human and Stefan relaxed into the booth after he finished his little show, pulling Emma closer to him. _

* * *

"I was your biggest fan, apart from Emma," Klaus said.

Hearing the girl's name sent chills down my spine causing me to wonder what my connection with her was exactly.

"Why should I believe any of this?" I asked him.

Klaus compelled the guard to tell Rebekah to meet them at Gloria's and feed off of him when she woke up and then turned on his heel and exited the warehouse. I followed behind him and questioned where he was going.

"You think I'm lying, Stefan? You and I knew each other. You trusted me with one of your secrets and now I'm going to prove it to you," Klaus explained.

"How?" I asked.

"We're going to your old apartment."

* * *

Kicking open the door to my old apartment, Klaus waltzed in and I followed him, looking around at the place. It was just like I had left it last, bringing back some memories that had a few holes in them.

"Do you feel that?" Klaus asked, turning to face me. "Someone's been here."

Walking in to see what he meant, I looked around the tiny living room while I responded.

"It's been vacant for decades. People must break in all the time," I said, hoping that it would calm his paranoia. Walking in a little further, I looked around the place still amazed that it was just like I had left it. "Why did you bring me here?"

"Your friend, Liam Grant – the one who drank his wife's blood – I never could figure out why you wanted his name," Klaus said, messing with the paper thin sheets that were still on the bed, near the edge of the living room. "And then you told me your little secret."

Listening to him talk, I looked down at the notebooks on the little table and ran my fingers over the notebook on top that had blood on the front of it.

"It was all part of your special little ritual," Klaus said, making my head snap up to look at him.

There was a second of silence as I thought back to what the ritual was and then it popped into my mind.

"To write it down," I whispered, confused as to how he knew that.

"And relive the kill," Klaus finished. "Over and _over_ again."

Turning around on his heel, Klaus grasped the edges of the cupboard on the wall and pulled on the edges until it swung open on hinges. He pulled it all the way open and turned to face me with a smug smile on his face.

"Believe me now?" he asked, inviting me to step inside the secret room.

Slowly walking forward, I thought back to all the countless nights to where I would walk into this room and write a name on the wall and sit in there for hours on end and remember every detail of the kill and relish in it.

When I stood in the threshold of the tiny room, I looked at the bottles of alcohol that lined the shelves and turned my head to look at the walls where all the names of my kills were. Standing there, tucked away in the corner of the room was Elena who was clutching one of my journals into her chest.

I was shocked to say the least and a little pissed off. She shouldn't be here; especially not with Klaus a mere 100 feet away. It was dangerous and she shouldn't be here. Elena should understand that by now. But there was still a little part of me that was happy to see her. I was glad that I got to see her brown, sparkling eyes again while she smile at me.

Knowing that Klaus would come over eventually if I remained quiet to see if I was doing okay, I spoke up.

"Look what I found," I called out. I grabbed a random bottle and read the label quickly before turning around and showing it to Klaus. "1918, single malt."

"My favorite," Klaus commented as he took the bottle from my hand and admired it. "Let's go and find someone to pair it with." He walked towards the door while still admiring the bottle, leaving me behind to cover up Elena's tracks.

Not wanting to risk anything, I shut the cabinet door back into place and exited the apartment as quickly as possible.

* * *

The loud rock music that played from the speakers in the bar allowed us to talk freely without fear of being overheard by the humans. Gloria served us some drinks from behind the bar and got down to business. Emma, the girl from before, was sitting down on the other side of Klaus, looking at me with a pained face as if it pained her to see me.

I couldn't tear my eyes away from her. I felt as if I should know who she is but I couldn't conjure the memory of her into my mind. It aggravated me that I couldn't remember anything and I wanted answers.

After Klaus was finished talking to Gloria about Rebekah, he turned to face me, cutting off my line of vision to Emma.

"What's with you? Something bothering you, mate?"

"Yeah, something is bothering me. I don't remember you or Emma, but yet, you seem to remember me. How the hell does that happen? I want to know exactly who you were to me and I want to know who Emma was," I said, setting my beer down on the bar forcefully and standing up straighter.

There was a small smirk on Klaus's face, like he was enjoying this.

"All will be revealed shortly, Stefan," he replied.

"You keep saying soon but I never get any answers," I snapped.

"Did you know that you used to want to be my wingman?" Klaus asked me, trying to divert my focus of the topic at hand.

I gave him a quizzical look and waited for him to explain further.

* * *

_The night had progressed and now Niklaus, Stefan, and Emma were all seated at the bar while Rebekah was off talking with a man. Emma was seated on Stefan's lap with his arms wrapped around her body, holding her close to him. _

_"They're jealous," Stefan said talking about Niklaus's family. The two had become close very quickly over the course of the night. "Your family wants you dead because they can never be what you are."_

_"What?" Niklaus asked, sullen, looking down at his shot glass. "An abomination?_

_"No," Stefan said with the utmost certainty. Unwrapping one arm from Emma, Stefan slapped his hand down on Klaus's shoulder and gave it a squeeze. "A king."_

_"A king like you?" he asked motioning to Stefan. "I mean look at you. You are powerful, you have yourself a beautiful girl, and you are untouchable."_

_"Every king has to have a queen," Emma said, looking up at Stefan with nothing but love in her eyes for the ripper holding her. Stefan looked down at her and gave her a smile before placing a kiss on her lips. Emma returned the kiss but pulled away quickly and buried her face in his chest. _

_Stefan removed his hand from Niklaus's shoulder and placed it back around Emma before looking up at his friend with a smile on his face._

_"Look at us," Nik started. "Two orphans. One sad, the other ruling Chicago."_

_Stefan shrugged and watched Niklaus take a sip of his bourbon. _

_"You know what?" Emma said after she pulled her head away from Stefan's chest, "you two are going to be great friends. I just know it."_

_Niklaus and Stefan nodded in agreement and both smiled._

_"I'm glad I met you," Stefan said to Niklaus after he kissed Emma's cheek._

_"Same here, brother," the Original added. _

_Emma gave the both of them a smile and got up off of Stefan's lap and stood up._

_"Come on you two," she said with a smirk on her face. The two men looked at Emma with curiosity on their faces. "I want to dance," she sang out. _

_The two male vampires laughed and finished their drinks before getting up and following Emma on to the dance floor._

* * *

"To friendship," Klaus said in all seriousness, holding up a shot glass after explaining some of the past to me.

Taking the small glass that was in my hand, I bumped it lightly with his before drinking it. Klaus drank his as well and I looked over his shoulder at Emma who was looking at me with a different expression. Instead of pain written across her face there was a mix of emotions that I couldn't sort out.

There was something different about this girl in front of me and I was going to find out what made her different from everyone else.

Emma tore her eyes away from mine and brought the drink in front of her to her lips and took a drink.

"So I'm confused," I said after a minute of thought to myself about the whole situation at hand. "If we were such great friends then why do I only know you as the hybrid dick who sacrificed my girlfriend on an altar of fire?" I asked.

There was a choking a noise and I looked over at Emma to see that she had choked on her drink was currently trying to take a breath to calm her breathing. I became confused to her reaction and then thought back to the explanations that Klaus had given me and remembered that Emma and I were _very _close in his recounts. I instantly felt a little guilty but pushed the feeling away due to the fact that I don't remember her and what our relationship was. It was better to distance myself from her at the moment.

I looked back at Klaus once Emma returned to normal and saw the smile on his face.

"All good things must come to an end."

* * *

_The sound of soft jazz music filled the bar and there were only a few couples on the dance floor besides Stefan and Emma who were dancing _very _close together. Their bodies were pressed tightly together and their movements were slow and intimate. With every step they took, they found themselves falling deeper and deeper into the other's eyes until their foreheads were pressed together and their lips were hovering over each other. _

_Just as Stefan was about to press his lips on to Emma's, someone shouted._

_"It's the police!" _

_The moment the words rang throughout the air, the sound of gun shots echoed around the room as bullets flew through the air. _

_Stefan took a hold of Emma's hands and pulled her towards the bar quickly, getting her and himself away from the bullets. Crouching down behind the bar a moment later with glass shattering above them, they were joined by Rebekah who was panicking. _

_"Stefan, what's going on?" Emma asked. _

_Stefan ignored her question as he picked up a bullet that was laying on the ground and examined it. The bullet was sharpened wood that looked like it could easily pierce their flesh. _

_"They're using wooden bullets," he said. Looking between Emma and Rebekah, he spoke again. "They know."_

_"That means he's here," Rebekah said vaguely with terror seeping into her voice. _

_"Who?" Emma asked. _

_"Who's here?" Stefan asked a second later. _

_Before Rebekah could respond, the sound of Niklaus's voice interrupted them. _

_"Rebekah? Come on, we've got to go, sweetheart," he yelled out. _

_The bullets started to fire again as Rebekah pushed herself out from under the bar and towards the sound of Nik's voice. Emma got up and followed her, wanting to make sure that Rebekah would be fine and also figure out what was going on. Stefan followed right behind her, placing one hand on her waist, keeping her close to him. _

_"What the hell is going on?" she asked._

_"Emma, Stefan," Rebekah shouted out before her brother shooed her away towards the doors. _

_The two vampires started to head for the doors but were stopped when Klaus stood in front of them, blocking them from moving. _

_"Stefan, Emma," he started. "I'm sorry, but the fun has to end here."_

_"What are you talking about?" Stefan asked while trying to push Emma towards the doors to get her outside and safe. Niklaus stopped them once more, confusing Stefan. _

_"You must forget me, Rebekah, and Emma," Klaus said, looking into Stefan's eyes with constricting pupils. "Until I say otherwise, you never knew us, Stefan."_

_"What are you doing?" Emma asked outraged, clutching onto Stefan's arm, not wanting to let go. "You can't make him forget me, Nik."_

_"Oh, but I can darling. I need you to come with me," he said to the teary eyed Emma before turning back to the ripper who looked dazed. _

_"Thank you. I had forgotten what it was like to have a brother," Klaus said before ripping Emma's hand off of Stefan's arm. Emma let out a scream and fought back, trying to take hold of Stefan once more. But Niklaus was far stronger and pulled her away, blocking out her strangled cries for her lover._

_"Stefan!" she screamed, trying to run back to him even though she was being pushed forward by Nik. "No, Stefan!"_

_"Let's go, Emma," Niklaus said forcefully, shoving her out of the doors where she lost sight of Stefan. _

* * *

I stared dumbfounded at Klaus and Emma for a moment before I voiced my thoughts on the piece of the past that had been revealed to me.

"You compelled me to forget."

Klaus started at the top of the bar sullenly and Emma remained silent. She hasn't said a word since I met her and it didn't look like that was going to change now. She seemed to be scared and hurt when she listened to Klaus retell the past. Her reactions made the events seem even more real to me.

"It was time for us to move on," Klaus said in a monotone.

"But why Emma?" I asked. "You didn't know her before, I take it. And who were you running from?"

"She is a key to my plan, Stefan, and I can't have any points missing," Klaus responded, ignoring my last question.

Staring at Klaus in utter disbelief, I let all the new information sink in. Looking over at Emma once more, I found her staring at me with sparkling eyes. Her expression wasn't broken anymore but she still didn't speak to me.

Tearing my gaze away from her, I looked around the bar until my eyes landed on a familiar dark head of hair. Damon stood by the back door way and he motioned for me to meet him outside before he walked out the door and into the night.

Turning back to Klaus, I set the glass of bourbon in my hand down on the bar and stood up from my seat at the bar stool.

"I need another drink," I said. "A real one."

Klaus just shrugged and grabbed the bottle of bourbon, filling his glass up again. I quickly walked towards the door and stepped out into the cool night air and saw him walking over towards a car. I flitted over to him and grabbed him by his collar, shoving him back into a car forcefully.

"What is wrong with you?" I asked him, trying to control my anger but not doing a good job.

"What is wrong with _you_?" Damon countered, pushing my hands off of him. "You kill Andie one day, save my life the next. Are you good, bad? Pick one."

"Klaus almost saw Elena today," I snapped. "Get her out of Chicago."

"She's not going anywhere until she's got you checked into vampire rehab," Damon spat back. "Trust me, I've tried."

"She is the key to everything," I said, shoving Damon's chest back a little. "Klaus can't know she's alive."

"What?" Damon asked.

"She was supposed to die in the sacrifice and she didn't," I explained. "Now Klaus can't create any new hybrids. His witch is seconds away from figuring that out. Tell Elena to go _home _and _forget _about me."

Damon was speechless and I took that as a sign that my message had sunk in. Damon's eyes flickered away and then back to me.

"Why don't you tell her," he said before looking away from me.

Following his gaze, my eyes landed on Elena who was standing a couple yards away in a short purple dress.

Damon flitted into the bar, leaving Elena and I alone with each other. Slowly walking towards her, I drank in the sight of her while I still could.

"You shouldn't be here," I told her.

"Where else would I be?" she retorted.

"What do you want?" I asked. "Damon won't be able to distract Klaus for long."

Reaching a hand up to stroke my cheek, her brown eyes searched mine, trying to convince me.

"Come home," she said, bringing her face closer to mine.

I started down at her, unable to speak. Too many things were going on in my mind and I didn't know what to say to her request. I couldn't just drop everything and leave. I needed to find out about my past and I needed to keep her protected from Klaus. I couldn't drop everything and be with her without _major _consequences.

Pulling me into her arms, Elena wrapped her arms around me. Keeping my arms at my side, I stood still waiting for her to pull back. Hearing her grasp something and raise her hand, I quickly moved out of the way and caught her extended arm only to see a vervain dart in her hand. Gripping her arm tight, but not tight enough to break bones, I got close to her face and spoke while she gasped in pain.

"How much clearer can I make it?" I questioned. My grip on her arm tightened slightly, causing her to drop the dart. "I don't want to come home."

I let go of her wrist and took a step away from her.

"Klaus is obsessed with siring these hybrids," I said. "The second he knows you're alive, he'll figure out why it's not working."

"Look, I know you're trying to protect me, but I can't let you do it," Elena said, trying to negotiate with me. Shaking my head, she continued. "Come with me, Stefan. Please."

"What do you expect if I do, huh?" I pressed, letting my voice get louder. "It's never going to be the same, Elena."

"I know that," she said.

"I don't think you do. Things have changed. I've left bodies scattered from Florida to Tennessee. Innocent people. Humans."

"Lexi found you like this before, in the '20s, and she saved you," Elena said, trying to reason with me.

"And do you know what I did after that?" I asked her. "I spent 30 years trying to pull myself together. To a vampire, that's nothing. To you, that's half your life."

"I can't give up on you, Stefan," she fought back.

"Yes, you can," I snapped. "It's done. That part of my life is done. I don't want to see you. I don't want to be with you. I've moved on from you," I said, trying to show her that I was done with everything. "I just want you to go."

Without waiting for a response, I turned on my heel and walked back towards the bar using all of my willpower not to turn back around and look at her again. If I looked at her one more time, I would have left with her. There was no doubt about it.

* * *

While Klaus was sitting in the warehouse, still waiting for Rebekah to wake up, Emma and I were seated opposite of each other, looking everywhere else but each other. Jumping off of the coffin that Klaus was seated on, he let out a frustrated sigh before walking over to me and placing a hand on my shoulder. I looked up at him and listened to him speak.

"Now, you can remember," he said.

Upon hearing those simple words, all the holes in my memory flooded back and everything made sense again. I remembered dancing with Emma at the bar, meeting Klaus and his sister, kissing Emma, feeding together, and every touch that was shared between us.

My eyes flickered over to Emma and suddenly, everything in the room seemed to be non-important. The only thing that I wanted to focus on was Emma and the fact that she was in front of me now after all these years. The one and only vampire I had ever created, the woman who I loved in my darkest period was in front of me, tangible.

"Emma," I breathed her name out.

A smile broke out across her face, causing her dimples to appear and her eyes started to water.

I stood up from the seat that I was in and started to walk towards her but stopped when I heard Klaus call my name from behind me. Turning around, my eyes landed on him and the memories of that one night came rushing back to me. I remembered taking the picture that was at the bar with him.

"I remember you," I said, astonished. "We were friends."

"We _are_ friends," Klaus corrected.

* * *

**A/N: That is the longest chapter that I have ever written. I'm so sorry that it is horrible writing though. I can't tell you how sorry I am. **

**Anyways, leave a review telling me what you thought about this chapter and what you think about Emma. I hope you like her. From now on, she is going to be a major part of this story. **

**Thanks for everything so far. You guys are amazing. **


	4. Disturbing Behavior

**A/N: Hey there. So, **KatherineSalvatore1918 **and I created an account of two-shots involving our own OC characters. The account is **Queen Dabella Queen Sticole **and if you like this story, I think that you will like the Stefan/Nicole (Sticole) chapters. I personally write those scenes so if you want to know what my writing style is like when it comes to kissing and what not further on down the road, go check it out! We are open to requests, too!**

* * *

**Disturbing Behavior**

Klaus, Emma, and I were seated in chairs placed in front of a dressing room, waiting for Rebekah to come out with an outfit that she had picked out. Klaus was served another glass of champagne and watched the woman who served him walk away with a glint in his eye and a smirk on his face. I leaned back into my chair and looked over at Emma to see her lounging against the large chair that we were sharing, looking beautiful. The dress that she was wearing today had a butterfly printed skirt that stopped mid-thigh and a low cut top that drew attention to her chest. But instead of a full view of her chest, Emma had styled her hair that morning so that her long, dull red waves covered her chest. The belt that was wrapped around her torso showed just how slender she was and allowed her curves to show.

Emma still hasn't said a word to me and I couldn't figure out why she was giving me the silent treatment. Whenever I would look at her, I could see the need to talk to me written across her face, yet she remained silent. I found it odd.

Taking a sip of my champagne, I looked up when I heard the curtain to the dressing room slide across the metal bar.

"There has to be more to this dress," Rebekah shouted.

"There's not," Klaus said to his sister, bluntly.

"So women in the twenty-first century dress like prostitutes then," Rebekah said with utter distaste before looking over at Emma with an apologetic expression.

"You know, I got dirty looks when I wore trousers," Rebekah said with venom in her voice.

"You wore trousers so women today could wear nothing," Klaus said with a coy smile on his lips.

"And what is this music?" Rebekah questioned, scrunching up her nose. "It sounds like a cable car accident."

"It's dance music," I told her.

"People dance to this?" Rebekah asked, repulsed at the thought.

I nodded my head and leaned forward so that my elbows rested on my knees.

"Are we done here?" Klaus asked his little sister.

"And why are you so grumpy?" Rebekah asked in a mocking tone, earning a giggle from Emma. Klaus shot her a dirty look and that was enough to make Emma tense up and wipe the smile off of her ace.

"I needed one thing from you for my witch to find out why my hybrids were dying. One thing; your necklace. And you lost it."

"I didn't lose it; it's just been missing for ninety years," Rebekah said before spinning on her heel to face Emma and myself. "What do you think?" She gave us a twirl and looked between us, waiting for an answer.

"I like it," I said, shrugging my shoulders.

"I can always tell when you are lying, Stefan," Rebekah hissed, narrowing her eyes at me. "What about you, Emma?"

"I like it and all but it gives your figure an unflattering look," she said in a soft tone, to the Original vampire who gave her a smile.

"Now there is someone that I can shop with," Rebekah said, giving Emma a smile.

"Let's get a move on, Rebekah," Klaus said after a moment. "We need to get back to Gloria soon."

Rebekah shook her head at her brother and walked back into the dressing room, leaving a pregnant silence to fill the room. Klaus remained relaxed on his chair while Emma got up from the couch and went to look at some clothes.

"Alright, I'm going to get some fresh air," I said after a moment. I stood up and looked around to see if there were any objections.

Klaus just poured himself another glass of champagne and Emma stood with her back to me, looking through clothes, ignoring me. I let out a sigh and walked towards the door but stopped dead in my footsteps when I saw the one and only Katherine Pierce standing on the other side of the street. She looked exactly like Elena and the only difference was that her hair was curly instead of straight.

Nodding her head towards the other side of the street and turned to walk away. Looking behind me to see if Klaus was going to follow me, I exited the store quickly and crossed the street.

Following the direction that Katherine nodded in, I stopped when I was in front of her and crossed my arms over my chest.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I asked her.

"You two look chummy," she commented. "Is Klaus your new _bestie_?"

"You know if he finds out you're in Chicago, you're dead," I told her.

"Happy to know that you still care," she said with a twisted smile on her face. "So tell me if I'm wrong. Rebekah's necklace that Klaus is looking for, that's the one that you gave to Elena." Not wanting to get into the whole Elena ordeal, I tried to side step around her but Katherine stepped in front of me. "Hey! Hey, wait."

She put a hand on my chest and kept me in place.

"You're up to something; tell me."

Knowing that she wasn't going to stop until she got what she wanted, I told her some of what I knew.

"They don't know where the necklace is, so I just have to keep them from figuring out," I answered. "I have it all under control."

"Please tell me you have a better plan than that," Katherine complained. Giving her a forced smile, I shook my head at her in annoyance and remained quiet. She caught on to my silence and inclined her head. "You do. Come on, Stefan. You're not the diabolical type. Whatever you are planning it's not going to work."

"Well if the most diabolical woman I know can't seem to figure it out, then I must be doing something right," I hissed.

"I forgot, you're bad now," Katherine said after she gave a dry chuckle. "Don't get too cocky. Klaus is smarter than you. Klaus is smarter than everyone," she stated.

Giving a curt nod, I walked back towards the store only to hear Katherine call out behind me.

"And I've heard about that Emma girl."

Turning around, I saw her narrow her eyes at me.

"Be careful, she'll ruin your whole act."

"Happy to know you still care," I mocked before turning back around to continue my walk towards the shop where Klaus, Rebekah, and Emma still were.

* * *

Walking back into Gloria's Bar, the first thing I saw was Emma sitting up on the bar next to Rebekah who was talking to her. Emma nodded her head and listened to what Rebekah was saying. But upon hearing my footsteps, Rebekah's head snapped up.

"You left Emma and me alone with my brother," she whined.

"Yeah sorry," I stared, walking down the three stairs that lead to the floor of the bar. "Retail therapy makes my head explode."

"Tell me about it," Klaus muttered before he took a sip from his glass of Scotch.

Looking over at Gloria, I saw her silently whispering to herself at a table that was covered in candles and a large spell book.

"What is she doing?" I asked aloud to no one in particular.

"She's failing," Klaus replied, sending her a dirty look.

"It's hard to find something when you don't have anything to go on," Gloria snapped.

"Just use me," Rebekah offered, jumping down from the bar. "I only wore it for a thousand years."

"See, now? This one offers a solution," Gloria praised the blonde vampire who was wearing a skimpy white tank top and a low cut denim skirt. "Give me your hand sweetheart," Gloria said to her as she sat down on the table.

"She's looking for the necklace, huh?" I asked, getting a tad anxious that whatever Gloria was doing would lead to Elena.

I watched Gloria as she whispered a spell under her breath and silently prayed that nothing would happen to Elena. I inched closer to Gloria as her chanting became slightly louder. She continued to chant until a moment later when she let go of Rebekah's hand and looked straight at me.

"I found it," she said.

Controlling my wide range of emotions at the moment, I just stared at the witch, waiting for her to continue.

"So where is it?" Rebekah asked excitedly with a gleam in her eye.

"It doesn't work like that, doll," Gloria said after she patted the top of Rebekah's hand. "I get images. There's a girl with her friends—"

"Yes, yes, a _dead _girl with _dead _friends if I don't get my necklace back," Rebekah pointed out, sounding blood thirsty already.

"Well, I'll have to dive back in to get the details," Gloria said.

Crossing my arms over my chest, I studied the witch cautiously. I wondered why she looked at me when she said that she had found it. Did she know that Elena was still alive or was it just a coincidence that she looked at me?

"So dive," Klaus said from behind me. I turned around to look at him and saw him place his hands on Emma's waist to pick her up off of the counter and set her down on the floor. She looked much shorter with flats on her feet than she was when she had heels on.

Brushing off her dress, Emma walked over towards me and stood next to me, just close enough that if she were to move, she would brush arms with me.

"I need more time," Gloria said, pulling my attention back to her. "And space. You're rushing my juju."

"We can wait," Klaus said.

"I'm sure you can, but that's not what I asked," Gloria said in a cold tone.

Realizing that Gloria was staring to lose her patience, I walked up to Klaus and clapped him on the back.

"Hey, you know, why don't we just come back later?" I suggested, trying to get on Gloria's good side in case something were to come up that had to deal with Elena. "I'm hungry anyway. I want to pick who we eat."

Walking towards the exit, I motioned for Emma to come and she quickly walked over to my side before turning to face the siblings. Klaus and Rebekah looked at each other for a moment before the two followed me and Emma out of the bar.

* * *

Halfway through our feeding, Emma dropped the half-dead male's body to the ground and wiped the excess blood off of her mouth.

"I have some business to attend to. I'll meet you back at Gloria's, Klaus," she said before turning on her heel and walking out of warehouse.

Part of me was curious as to where she was going and what business she had to attend to. It must have been important because the Emma that I knew wouldn't have left a body to waste away like that. But then again, I hadn't seen her for decades and a lot can change in the course of one decade alone.

After I finished draining the woman that was my meal, I set her limp body down on the floor before stepping over her.

Pulling away from the woman's neck that she was feeding on, Rebekah smirked at me.

"Going to follow your lover?" she teased.

I rolled my eyes before turning to Klaus and speaking.

"I need to go."

Without waiting for a response, I flitted out of the warehouse and followed Emma's scent until I reached Gloria's. Silently walking into the bar so I would go unnoticed, I listened to Gloria speak.

"He's not the same person that he was all those decades ago, Emma," Gloria warned.

"I know that Gloria," Emma said, her back facing me. "I just can't help myself."

"You should know better than to go against Klaus's commands."

"He didn't say I couldn't feel anything for him. He just compelled me not to talk to him," Emma said, walking up to the bar and leaning on it.

"You should listen to what's implied," Gloria warned. "You know what the consequences are for disobeying him, sweetie."

Emma let out a defeated sigh and dropped her head down on to the bar.

So that is why Emma hasn't spoken to me. She was compelled not to talk to me by Klaus.

"Don't you know it's rude to eavesdrop, Salvatore?" Gloria called out while she poured a glass of alcohol.

Emerging from the shadows of the bar, I saw Emma's head snap up and turn to face me. Her eyes were wide with shock and she stood still.

"You were compelled not to talk to me?" I asked her, knowing that she couldn't answer me. "But why would Klaus not want you to talk to me? It's not like you have a secret to hide from me. You would be fully capable of hiding that on your own if you were able to talk to me."

Gloria looked up at Emma and watched as I started to put the pieces together.

"Or maybe it isn't your secret to hide, but someone else's," I answered myself. "Klaus doesn't want you telling me his secret."

Emma remained as still as a statue, staring at me with her wide hazel eyes.

"Well, we all have our secrets, Stefan," Gloria said, walking out from behind the bar. The witch stood next to Emma and set two shot glasses down next to her.

"What did you see?" I asked her.

"It's what I heard that's interesting," Gloria said. "You know, the girls with the necklace, they were talking about you."

Emma's head snapped over to Gloria's and she gave her a confused look.

"Yet you didn't tell Klaus," I said, walking up to the bar, grabbing a bottle of scotch and a glass. "Why?"

"Because I wouldn't help that hybrid-half breed with anything. Not after what he did," Gloria said, casting a look in Emma's direction.

"What did he do?" I asked, looking between the two girls.

"The necklace is a talisman from the Original witch herself," Gloria said, ignoring my question completely. "I want it."

Pouring a glass of alcohol for myself, I took a sip from the glass before looking back up at the witch.

"Well, I'm sorry. I can't help you," I said, setting the glass down before I crossed my arms over my chest and looked down at Emma. Emma's eyes met mine and she seemed to be searching for something hidden in my expression.

"Don't be difficult," Gloria warned, making me look back at her. "You know I would hate to have to tell Klaus what a liar his sidekick is."

Knowing that she would tell Klaus if she got the chance to, I seethed and prepared to attack Gloria. I looked down at Emma as Gloria turned around and I saw her shake her head at me with fearful eyes. She knew what I was going to do and didn't want me to.

Not listening to her, I took a step towards Gloria only to hear a very loud, very high pitched frequency sound in my brain causing me to stop what I was doing and clutch my head in pain and groan.

"Gloria, please, don't do this," Emma begged the woman, finally speaking up.

"He wasn't willing to help so I guess we are going to have to get it out the hard way," Gloria said.

The last thing I saw before I blacked out was Emma rushing over to me with concern and worry in her eyes.

* * *

_Walking into the bar, I scanned the crowd tonight, trying to pick out my meal. There were so many women hanging around and so little men this evening. It was almost too good to be true. _

_Walking down the few stairs that led to the dance floor, I cut through the people dancing and sat down at a bar stool placed under the bar. _

_"Can I get a scotch, please?" I asked the bartender who nodded his head and started on my drink._

_"Vodka on the rocks," a feminine voice from behind Stefan said. "And be sure to make it strong."_

_Turning around to see the woman who ordered the drink, I was pleased when I saw a beautiful lady standing in front of me with one hand on her hip and the other hanging down by her side. She was wearing a heavily beaded dress that clung to her curves and showed off her chest. There was a simple chain necklace that had a ring attached to it around her neck that stopped near her stomach and drew attention up to her face. She had fair skin and light pink lips that were full. She had a pair of sparkling hazel eyes that were looking around the bar with amusement on her face. Instead of having her hair pinned up like most women, this lady had her dull red, straight hair down._

_The view of her wasn't even the best part. The scent of her blood filled the air, intoxicating me slightly. The scent was unique. She smelled like caramel and nutmeg. The combination was a bit strange, but never the less, it was the most alluring scent I had ever had the joy of coming across. _

_Noticing that I was staring at her, the lady arched one of her eyebrows. _

_"Can I help you?" she asked in a slightly sassy tone. _

_"It's not ladylike to talk like that to a man, is it?" I teased her. _

_"Well you're no gentleman," the woman said, flipping a lock of her hair over her shoulder. A wave of her scent wafted into my nose at the motion. "A gentleman wouldn't look at a girl like he was ready to rip her clothes off."_

_"Your scotch, sir," the bartender said from behind me, handing me my drink. I gave him a nod in thanks and turned back to the woman._

_"How do you know that I like what I see?" I questioned her, waiting to hear her answer. _

_"There hasn't been one who doesn't yet," she replied with a slight smirk on her lips. _

_"Your drink, madam," the bartender said, once again. _

_With a smile, she leaned forward and reached over my shoulder to retrieve her drink. Instead of pulling away, the woman whispered in my ear, brushing her body against mine. _

_"I know what I bring to the party. Do you?"_

_With that being said, the human pulled away from me and sauntered off to the dance floor where she was sucked into the crowd. _

_"Who was that?" I asked the bartender, hoping that he would know who she was. After all, I needed to know the name that I was soon going to be writing on my wall. _

_He let out a laugh and shook his head. "Good luck with her. No one here is good enough for Emma Lancaster. You're nothing more than a fun time for her."_

_Turning away to get back to his job, I sat at the bar with a smile forming on my face. _

_It looks like I had found my meal for the night. _

* * *

Coming to my senses, I let out a groan and gasped for air, looking around me to see where I was. There were candles surrounding me and the table that I was laying on. The lights were dim and it was hard to see outside the circle of candles. It took me a moment to realize that I was still in Gloria's bar.

"What is this? Why can't I move? Where is Emma?" I asked all in a rush, clueless as to what was going on.

"Relax," Gloria said with a sigh as she pulled a long, sharp looking blade out of a pocket. "It's just a little paralysis spell. Nothing major." Walking around the small table that held a spell book and the pocket to the blade she was holding, she came over to me. "As for Emma, she is taking a little nap."

Looking down at the floor near the edge of the circle, I saw Emma crumpled up on the floor, not moving or making a sound to let me know that she was alive.

Pressing the cold, hard, sharp metal blade down on my wrist, Gloria cut my arm open. The blade itself wasn't smooth. It had rugged edges and sharp points, making me grunt and groan in pain.

"Just got to get the information out of your pretty little head," Gloria said, walking around my body only to cut open my other wrist. "You know, witches now days, they are in to that new age stuff, but I'm a little more old school voodoo."

The pain from the cuts wasn't going away and I had a feeling it had something to do with her blade.

"Mm," Gloria hummed. "This will stop that pesky healing."

I didn't look over at her to see what it was, fearing what it might look like. But curiosity got the best of me and I watched as she inserted small, thin metal bars in my wrists to hold the skin apart. I let out a scream of pain and prayed that this would end now.

"I won't tell you anything," I said through the pain.

The witch inserted another metal rod into my other wrist and shook her head in disappointment.

"You don't have to."

Blood from my wrists dripped down into glass bowls beneath my hands and started to steam which caused me to worry further.

"You feel that? That is your essence," Gloria said with a hiss at the end. "Your spirit. It lets me make a connection. Herbs help, too. Diviners, sage, witch hazel…"

Turning her back to me, she hovered over her little desk and a minute later turned back around to face me once more.

"But my personal favorite, vervain," she said before pressing her palms coated in vervain down on my chest. The herb burned my skin and I let out yet another scream of pain, this time for my burning skin cells.

"You don't have to do this," I huffed out, trying to make her stop when she pulled away.

"Oh, but that's where you are wrong," Gloria said, coating her hands with the herb again. "I do have to. But you know, I am impressed by your discipline, Stefan. Although it's not going to do you much good."

The skin on my chest was just starting to heal when Gloria pressed her palms down yet again on my chest and dug her fingernails into my skin this time.

"Just let go, honey," she prompted. "There we go, there we go," she said when I finally gave into the pain and tried to think about Elena to calm down.

"There is the girl with the necklace," Gloria said. "You love her. You'd do anything for her. And you have."

Pressing her palms harder on my skin, I let out a groan.

"A lot of darkness, a lot of guilt. All to keep her away from Klaus. Why would he be interested in one girl?" Gloria asked, her curiosity peaked.

"Don't do this," I begged. "Don't do this."

Realization hit her face and she eased up on her pressure on my chest.

"She's the doppelgänger. She's supposed to be dead," Gloria said, taking her hands fully off of my chest. "That's why Klaus can't make hybrids isn't it?"

Gloria gave a dry chuckle and shook her head at me.

"Well, this is creepy," a familiar voice said from behind Gloria.

Gloria spun around on her heel to reveal Katherine who quickly plunged Gloria's blade into the side of her neck, making her fall to her knees. A second later, I couldn't hear her heartbeat anymore and her body sprawled out across the tiled floor.

"Maybe you do need my help after all," Katherine pointed out, looking down at me with an emotionless face.

Ignoring her, I felt myself gain control of my limbs once again and sat up on the table, looking at my wrists. I ripped the metal rods out of my wrist and watched as they slowly mended. My whole body still ached from the torture but I managed to get off of the table and walk over to Emma who was still unconscious. Bending down, I scooped her tiny body into my arms and set her down on the table, surprised by how light she was.

"Here, put this on, Romeo," Katherine mocked before she handed me my shirt.

Taking it out of her hands, I pulled the shirt over my torso and dried the blood off of my wrists with a towel that was on Gloria's little table.

"What's wrong with the little girl here?" Katherine asked, poking Emma to see if she was awake.

"Gloria put her under a spell," I answered Katherine.

Katherine turned her attention from Emma to the dead witch on the floor. Crouching down to see if she had a pulse, she pulled away when she was sure that she was dead, leaving me to clean up her body.

"If you must know, I've been thinking about your diabolical plan," Katherine said, nosing her way into my scheme. Or at least trying to.

"Oh! Do tell," I feigned interest while I covered up Gloria's body with a tarp that was resting at the foot of the table that I was laying on not five minutes ago.

"Well, you must know that Klaus is too paranoid to fully trust you," Katherine started. "But the sister seems to think that she is besties with your little vampire here. And she seems to have a bit of a crush on you. She's the easier mark. But you can't pretend to care or use Emma to help you because of her little "fear" of talking to you. Klaus will know better. Which is why you are doing the opposite. You bond with Klaus and stay close to Emma, leaving Rebekah in the dirt. She knows that you had something with Emma and she loves the attention when you give it to her. She'll only want you more."

"So you're saying that I'm taking a page out of the Katherine Pierce playbook," I spat.

"Why?" Katherine asked. "What do you expect to get from it?"

"You know what's funny?" I asked her, pushing myself off of the ground so I could be eye level with her. "You keep talking to me like I actually trust you enough to tell you anything."

"Come on, Stefan," Katherine cooed, getting closer to me. "We're beyond that."

"Oh, are we?" I asked.

"I saved you from Hilda the High Voodoo Priestess," Katherine added.

"Okay," I said, recognizing that she saved me. "I knew them, and Emma, back in the twenties."

Katherine showed traces of shock on her face but for the most part, curiosity took over.

"They were running from someone," I continued. "Someone who scared them."

"The Hunter," Katherine said with recognition.

"Don't you want to know why an Original vampire who can't be killed is afraid of him?" I asked her.

"If you are planning on making a move against Klaus, I want in," Katherine demanded, her eyes turning dark.

"That's good," I told her, patting her arm. "It's good to want things."

I turned away from her and walked over to Emma who was still unconscious and sprawled out on the wooden table. Putting an arm under her neck and the other under her knees, I brought her into my chest and started to carry her towards the exit.

"Stefan," Katherine called out from behind me.

"Katherine," I yelled back. "I'm in this alone. Oh, and I'm going to need you to clean this up," I told her once I got to the exit of the Bar.

Kicking the door open with my foot, I walked out of the bar with Emma in my arms, heading toward my apartment.

* * *

Walking into my apartment, I set Emma down on the shabby bed in the corner of the living room while the man I had compelled outside the bar followed us into the apartment. I made my way over to the man who was standing mindlessly in the middle of the living room and heard Emma shuffle a little, alerting me that she was slowly coming to.

Slapping my hand down on the man's shoulder, I looked him in the eye and spoke.

"When she wakes up, you will offer your wrist and not make a sound when she feeds off of you. When she is finished, if you are still alive, tell her to meet me at the warehouse. After that, you won't remember a thing of what happened."

The man nodded his head and remained standing in the middle of the room.

I let out a sigh and looked at Emma laying on the bed before I walked out of the apartment and shut the door behind me.

* * *

Walking into the warehouse, I looked around to see if Klaus or Rebekah was around, but saw no sign of them. The only things I saw were empty shelves and the coffins that held Klaus's family members. I wondered who was in the coffins other than Elijah. I walked over to one of the coffins and brushed my fingers against the dark wood cover before I started to lift it up to reveal who was inside the coffin.

The moment that I was about to fully lift the cover open, I heard Rebekah speak from behind me.

"You're back," she said, making me drop the lid and spin around to face her. She had a smile on her face as she looked at me. "Finally. Nik went to check on the witch."

I nodded my head and crossed my arms over my chest, trying to cover up my actions. Rebekah slowly walked towards me, swaying her hips back and forth.

"Dreary, isn't it?" she questioned, motioning to the coffins. "The family cargo."

Once more nodding my head, I looked back down at the coffin, pushing the curiosity in my mind to a back corner.

"Why don't you undagger them?" I asked her, looking up at her.

"Because he would hunt me down and kill me," Rebekah quickly answered, talking about Klaus. She laughed a little and continued. "He's a vindictive little bastard, my brother."

"But you still care about him," I noted. "Why?"

"Well I hated him for a long time. It was exhausting," Rebekah said, walking past me before she sat down on the lid of the coffin that I had tried to open earlier.

"You know, when I met you two, you were both on the run," I remembered, sitting down next to her on the coffin.

"Also exhausting."

"Who were you running from?" I asked her.

"What do you mean?"

"The last night I saw you, there was a man looking for you," I told her. "You both seemed afraid. I just – I wouldn't think Klaus would be afraid of anybody."

"No one in this world is truly fearless, Stefan," Rebekah pointed out. "Not even Niklaus."

"Who was that man?"

Rebekah remained silent for a moment before she pushed herself off of the coffin and stood up. "I can't. Please. If Nik knew we were talking about this, he would –"

"No, no, no," I interjected, cutting her off. I stood up and placed a hand gently on her upper arm. "I'm sorry. Just forget I asked."

"He told me about Emma and that girl you loved – the one that died," she said. "He also told me that you're only with him because he saved your brother."

Nodding my head, I looked down at the ground a moment before I looked back up at her. "It's true."

"I think he secretly admires you for that. He'd sacrifice everything for family as well," Rebekah explained. "Don't tell him I told you that."

Giving her a small laugh, I rocked back on my heels.

"You're secret… is safe with me," I told her, adding in a smile at the end.

I turned on my heels, about to walk away when Rebekah pulled me back and crushed her lips down on mine. I was surprised to say the least and didn't know what to do. Hesitating, I pulled back but then thought better of it and kissed her back, hoping it would get some information out of her.

Pulling away from the kiss, Rebekah looked at me through hooded eyelids. "Do you think you'll ever love someone as much as you loved them?"

Knowing the answer that would please her, I nodded my head. "One day, maybe."

Rebekah gave me a small smile and reached her hand out to stroke the side of my face. She shook her head a little, making her blonde curls bounce.

"I can always tell when you're lying, Stefan," she said.

"What? I'm not–"

"Don't bother, your kiss gave you away," Rebekah said with venom in her voice.

Interrupting the moment, Klaus barged through the warehouse doors and stormed in.

"Gloria is gone," he announced. "We need to find another witch immediately." Pausing, Klaus looked between the two of us before he asked, "What's going on?"

"Something's wrong. He asked about Mikael," Rebekah ratted me out. I silently dreaded what was coming when I saw Klaus send daggers with his eyes my way. "He's not with us, Nik. I can sense it."

"She's wrong," I defended myself. Klaus continued to glare at me and I shook my head, trying to make him trust me. "Klaus…"

I looked around the room, trying to come up with something to say to him when my eyes landed on a person standing behind a shelf. The person walked out from behind the shelf and stepped into the light, revealing a hurt Emma. She had tears in her eyes and she wouldn't look at me.

Before I could do anything, Klaus rushed up to me, taking my neck in his hands and snapped my neck, making darkness surround me.

* * *

_After I finished my scotch, I set my glass down on the bar and got up from the bar. I was hungry and I wanted to sink my teeth into Emma Lancaster's throat already and hear her scream out in pain and agony. The kill, in all honesty, was the best part of the meal. _

_Turning around to look out at the people in the bar, I kept my eyes peeled for a certain red head and was delighted when I saw her sitting all alone in a booth, looking out over the crowds of people. With a sadistic smile on my face, I cut through the throngs of people and eventually came up to the booth that she was sitting in. _

_I plopped down across from her and lounged back, enjoying the ticked off look on her face. _

_"You sure have some nerve, don't you?" she asked me, sending me a cold glare. _

_"I'd like to call it ambition, but whatever helps you sleep at night, Emma," I said, sending her a wink._

_Giving a snort, Emma rolled her hazel eyes and took a sip of her drink before setting it down on the table. _

_"What makes you worth my time..?" she trailed off, not knowing my name._

_"Stefan Salvatore," I answered. _

_"Stefan," she said, ending her question. _

_"It looks like you are in need of a good time," I told her. "And I am here to make sure that you have a _good _time."_

_Narrowing her eyes, the human leaned across the table and whispered with anger lacing her voice. _

_"If I wanted a good time, Mr. Salvatore, I would have left here with some other guy by now, don't you think?"_

_"Then why haven't you?" I pressed._

_"Not every night has to be filled with booze and sex," she spat at me. "But men are pigs and I wouldn't expect you to think anything else."_

_Leaning forward so that I was closer as well, my expression hardened, having had enough of her teasing. _

_"You should really watch what you say to me. You don't want to see me angry," I warned her._

_"Oh great," she remarked, leaning back. "You're one of those guys who thinks his shit doesn't stink, aren't you? You think you're better than everyone else? Well, newsflash, Stefan," she hissed. "You're nothing but a cheap pervert who doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground."_

_Getting up out of the booth, Emma stormed past me, but I reached out and grabbed her arm, making her stop. She struggled in my grip, trying to shake me off but it would do her no good now. I was pissed off and hungry. I wanted her blood and I was going to have it by the end of the night. Pulling her down towards me, I looked into her eyes and spoke, compelling her._

_"You are going to behave like a good little girl and do as I say," I said. _

_"I'll do as you say," she said in a robotic voice. _

_With a smirk on my lips, I got up from the booth. "Good. Now, we are going to go back to my apartment and have a good time that you have so desperately wanted."_

_She nodded her head, still under my compulsion, and followed me out of the bar._

* * *

Opening my eyes slowly after I felt someone kick my foot, I looked around before I shot up and saw Klaus staring down at me with an emotionless face and Emma sitting in a corner, staring at the floor with a bored expression on her face.

"Just give me a chance to explain myself, okay?" I asked, Klaus, wanting to make sure that I hadn't gotten myself any deeper into the problem at hand.

"No need," Klaus said with a smile forming on his face. "I'm not mad, I'm just curious. Rebekah seems to think you're holding on to something. A piece of your old life. The thing is, she's got flawless instincts; borderline supernatural." Leaning forward on the bow that Klaus was sitting on, he grinned down at me. "So I thought I would check it out. See what it is you have been hiding."

Getting up, Klaus walked over to the door to the cargo box that we were currently in and pulled it up, letting sunlight stream in. I got up off of my feet and covered my eyes, letting them adjust to the light. When my eyes finally did adjust, I looked out over the familiar town and the muscles in my stomach clenched in discomfort.

"Welcome home, Stefan," Klaus said with a grin on his face.

Speaking up from behind me, Emma walked up to Klaus and me. "Where exactly are we, Klaus?"

"Mystic Falls," I answered for Klaus.

* * *

**A/N: What did you think of that? Did you guys like how I started to tell the story of Emma and Stefan's past or no? Don't worry, that is not all of their past. There is ****MUCH**** more to come, trust me. **

**I would just like to say thank you for the support and I hope you enjoyed this chapter! **

**Remember that reviews are helpful and I love hearing your feedback!**

KatherineSalvatore1918 **and I created an account of two-shots involving our own OC characters. The account is **Queen Dabella Queen Sticole **and if you like this story, I think that you will like the Stefan/Nicole (Sticole) chapters. I personally write those scenes so if you want to know what my writing style is like when it comes to kissing and what not further on down the road, go check it out! We are open to requests, too!**


	5. The Reckoning

**A/N: I'm back**

**from "long" silence. I think it is about time that I work on this story again. **

**That's all I really have to say. So enjoy this chapter! (;**

**P.S.: This first scene is borderline M. It gets close to it and then there is a little gore because well… you'll see. DON'T READ IT IF YOU ARE UNCOMFORTABLE WITH IT. YOU CAN SKIP THE FIRST SCENE AND YOU WILL BE FINE. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. **

* * *

**The Reckoning**

_Pushing her against the wall, I crushed my lips on to Emma's with a bruising force. The scent of her blood was driving me crazy but I couldn't stop myself from kissing her. Her lips were just as addictive as the scent she carried. I pressed my body against hers and felt her writhe underneath my body. She moaned into the kiss and wound her fingers through my hair, pulling at the roots which made me grunt in pleasure. _

_I pulled my lips away from Emma's mouth and peppered her jawline with kisses, enjoying her body's response to my actions. Moving my kisses down to her ear, I grazed my teeth against her ear and felt her shiver in pleasure and pull me closer. _

_"Stefan," she moaned out the moment my teeth bit down on her earlobe. A small grin etched its way on to my lips and I moved down to the base of her neck and placed open mouthed kisses on her collar bone, making her cry out with pleasure. She started to moan my name some more but when she spoke, all I could hear was her blood rushing through her body. I felt my gums start to ache in anticipation, making me pull away quickly. I didn't want this moment to be over right away. I wanted it to last for a long time. Plus, playing with my food was one of the highlights of the kill. _

_Not bothering to unzip Emma's dress, I just gripped the material on her hips in my hands and ripped the dress from her body, sending shreds of cloth and beads everywhere. Emma's eyes snapped open and she watched me through hooded eyes as I placed my hands on the top of her thighs, right under her slip and slowly started to push the material up. I noticed that she started to grow impatient. She placed her hands on top of mine and took them off of her slip before she pulled it off quickly herself and threw it on the ground. _

_As she stood in front of me, I looked down at her body with greedy eyes. She was so thin and slender which made her curves stand out more. Her body truly was amazing and it was all for me. No one would see it again after tonight. _

_Sliding my hands around her waist, I picked her up before she placed her legs around my waist and locked her arms around my neck, placing kisses on my neck while I walked us back towards my bed in the corner of the small living room. When the back of my knees hit the bed, I fell down with Emma on top of me. Her small body pressed down on to mine as she continued to kiss my neck. _

_I grew impatient with her kissing and flipped us over. At this point all I could focus on at the moment was the blood coursing through her veins and the hunger that was slowly taking over my control. I laid my head down in the crook of her neck and licked the flesh under my face, sending shivers down her spine. The fangs that I had been forcing back retracted from my gums and I wasn't able to hold back. I opened my mouth and bit down on Emma's neck, draining the blood from her body. _

_She tasted bittersweet which was different from the countless other women and men that I have consumed. She was addicting and I couldn't stop myself from sucking the blood out faster. I pulled away from her neck violently and tore the flesh on her neck apart, making her scream out in agonizing pain. _

_The hunger took over my control and I slid down her body, stopping at her breast covered with the flimsy cloth of her bra. Tearing the cloth off, I bit down into her breast and drank her blood, enjoying the divine taste for a moment before tearing away from her breast, leaving it to bleed out. I moved down her body further and bit her stomach, drawing some more blood. Emma continued to scream bloody murder as I ripped into her. _

_Pulling away from her stomach, I pulled her leg up so it hung off of my shoulder and turned my head to the side, biting down on her thigh. Her blood was taunting me and I couldn't get enough of it. I _needed _more. _

_"Please, stop!" Emma shouted out between mangled cries. "Please!" _

_Pulling away from her leg, I looked into her eyes and watched as her face held horror. She let out a scream as I lunged for her neck once more, trying to push me off of her. _

_Latching my mouth on to her neck, I drained her faster, consuming her blood at a faster rate than normal. I was so focused on her taste that I blocked out her cries of pain. I needed more. I wanted more. I craved more. _

_Hearing her heartbeat slow down drastically, I forced myself to pull away. Emma no longer moved and she was silent. Her eyes were open and looked hollow, like the life was leaving her. Everything in my body – every nerve, every sense, every ounce of my being – wanted more of her blood. It was addicting and I didn't want to stop feeding. But she was almost dry and I couldn't have her blood disappear and be left with a void. _

_Biting into my wrist, I pressed the bloody skin down to Emma's mouth and listened to the liquid trickle into her mouth. Barely swallowing the substance, I heard Emma's heartbeat stop the second after. _

_The woman under me was dead. _

* * *

Feeling immense pain ripple throughout my body, I clutched my neck since it hurt the most and opened my eyes to see where I was. Seeing the same walls of the inside of the cargo truck, I flipped around so I was on my knees and saw Rebekah standing with her back to me.

"Ah, he lives," she cooed, turning around to look down at me.

"What happened?" I asked her, looking around to see if Klaus or Emma was near. Seeing neither of the two, I assumed they went somewhere for business.

"You took a beating," Rebekah answered. "My brother's been breaking your neck all afternoon. Quite the temper."

"Why did he bring us back to Mystic Falls?" I asked her, while I pushed myself off of the floor of the cargo box so I was standing up.

"You can stop playing dumb now," she hissed, looking at me with an unimpressed expression. "It didn't take him long to figure out what you've been hiding."

I shook my head, praying that she wasn't talking about what I think she was. "I'm not hiding anything. I've done everything Klaus has asked me to."

"No, you just failed to mention that the doppelgänger's still alive," Rebekah said with venom in her voice.

I remained unfazed, trying to keep my front up even though it was slowly crumbling down. Turning on my heel, I put my hands on my hips and looked down at the ground, trying to get my mind off of all possible scenarios of what could and will go wrong.

"Where is Klaus now?"

"With any luck, ripping that cow's bloody head off," Rebekah taunted with a wicked smile on her face, no doubt.

My back stiffened and I could feel my blood boil at the thought of the scene Rebekah was talking about. If I had anything to do with it, Klaus wouldn't touch Elena. Mustering every ounce of my strength, I turned around and charged at Rebekah, knocking her off of her feet and on to the pavement where I hovered above her, holding her throat with my two hands.

"Where is she?" I yelled.

"You really do love her don't you?" Rebekah said from beneath my grip, pushing me off of her and into the truck, holding me there.

Grabbing a crowbar from behind me in the back of the truck, Rebekah brought it across my face and then held my neck with the curled part. She brought her face close to mine and glared at me.

"Consider me jealous," she said before pulling the bar from around my neck and shoving it through my abdomen.

Pain shot through my body once more and I let out a scream of pain and clutched my stomach trying to pull the crowbar out of my stomach. Before I could however, Rebekah took a hold of my neck and snapped it, sending me into darkness once more.

* * *

_Staring down at her mangled body, I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed in myself. I drained her too fast and didn't give let her heal. I was too late by the time that I thought about it. I continued to stare down at her body and watch her figure lay there, motionless. _

_After a minute or two, I tore my gaze from the body and walked towards the cupboard which opened up to reveal the little hidden room that I had. I took a step in and looked to the side to face the wall where the names of all my victims were. I crouched down to pick up the pen that was on the ground and removed the cap, ready to write the name of my latest victim. _

Emma Lancaster

_Dropping the pen back down on the floor, I took a step back and looked at the name for a while. There was something about this name that was familiar but I couldn't place the name. I studied the name a while longer before I heard a gasp. I snapped my head around and slowly started to walk towards the living room where the gasp came from. When I got into the living room, I looked over to where my bed was and saw Emma Lancaster sitting up with the bloody sheets wrapped around her body, looking like she was ready to cry. _

_"What happened?" Emma asked when her eyes landed on mine. She sounded appalled. "All I can remember was you attacking me and biting me. Why do my gums hurt so much? What's happening to me?"_

_"How?" I asked, trying to process what was happening. She died before the vampire blood could heal her. Then realization hit me and it all came back around. Emma had died with vampire blood in her system, turning her into a vampire. _

_"What's happening?" she asked again, her voice cracking and eyes watering. "Why does my throat feel like sandpaper rubbing together?" Before I could do anything to give her some reassurance, she started to cry and hugged the sheets closer to her body. _

_I waked up to her slowly, not wanting to send her further into hysteria and placed my hand on the side of her face and brought it up so she could look at me. The tears that brimmed her eyes fell from her tear ducts and slid down her cheeks. _

_"Calm down," I said in a relatively quiet voice. "You're a vampire."_

_"A vampire?" Emma sniffed, taken aback. "Is this some sick joke? That isn't possible. Vampires aren't real."_

_"Oh, they're real, Emma and you are in transition to becoming one," I told her, not sugar coating it. _

_All the color drained from her face as she looked up at me with wide eyes. The sheet slowly started to slip from her grip and fall down her chest, but she pulled it back up and remained wide eyed. I could see the gears in her head spinning fast but I didn't have the time to sit here and watch her slowly die. _

_"We need to get you blood so you can complete the transition," I told her. _

_"What happens when I complete the transition?" Emma asked in a quiet voice. _

_"You'll be a vampire. You'll never grow old. You'll never die. You'll be invincible."_

* * *

Breathing in air, I rolled over on my side but was stopped when I felt an immense pain in my gut. I opened my eyes and looked down to see the crowbar that Rebekah speared me with sticking out of my stomach. Slowly wrapping both hands around the bar, I started to pull it out, grunting in pain.

The moment it came out, I threw it across the school's parking lot and pushed myself off of the ground. I stood there, looking down at my torn shirt and felt my wound heal up instantly and then walked into the school, trying to find Elena to get her out of here.

I searched the hallways and the classrooms that I passed but saw no one. The school seemed to be empty. That was, until I looked in the gym doors and saw Elena crouched down next to two students. She looked as if she was trying to calm them.

Opening the door, I looked around and saw Klaus sitting up in the bleachers and Emma leaning against the wall next to the door on the opposite side of the gym, looking thoroughly bored.

Elena looked over and saw me and stood up. She had a look of relief and worry on her face.

"Stefan," she said.

Ignoring her, I turned to Klaus, trying to fix this mess before it got out of hand.

"Klaus."

"Come to save your damsel, mate?" he asked in a monotone voice.

"I came to ask for your forgiveness," I pleaded. "And pledge my loyalty."

"Well, you broke that pledge once already," Klaus said, looking away from me.

"Elena means nothing to me anymore," I told him while looking at Elena to see the shock and horror on her face from what she had just heard me say. "And whatever you ask of me, I will do."

"Fair enough," Klaus said getting up from his spot on the bleacher, motioning for Emma to come forwards. "Let's drink on it. Kill them," he demanded, pointing to the two students who looked traumatized enough as it was.

They got up and started to back away until Emma put her hands out and caught them, holding them there so they couldn't flee.

"What are you waiting for?" Klaus asked me in a mocking tone. "Kill them."

I saw Elena shake her head and her big brown eyes filled with shock.

"No. Stefan, don't," she said, like she could control my actions. "He's not going to hurt me. He already said—"

Elena was cut off by Klaus walking up to her and smacking her across the face. She let out a scream due to the force of the slap that was so hard that she flew into the air, spun around, and then landed on the ground with a thud, holding her face.

My anger rose to an uncontrollable level and I charged at Klaus just like I had done with Rebekah who was nowhere to be seen. Klaus spun around though and took my hands which were curled around his shirt and twisted them off of his shirt before he caught me by my throat with his left hand, holding me a short distance away. All of the air in my throat was sucked away and I started to choke.

"She means nothing to you?" Klaus yelled, outraged. "Your lies just keep piling up."

"Klaus, let him go," Emma said from behind the two students, making Elena and myself look up at her.

"Let her go," I choked out after a moment, looking at Klaus who slightly loosened his grip after Emma had spoken up. "I'll do whatever you want. You have my word."

"You heard him, Klaus," Emma pressed. "He'll do whatever. Let him go."

"His word doesn't mean much, dear Emma," Klaus said over his shoulder. "I lived by his word all summer during which time I never had to resort to this."

"No, Klaus," Emma called out. "You promised you wouldn't."

"Some promises were made to be broken." Looking at me directly, Klaus spoke, compelling me with his pupils dilating. "Stop fighting."

"Don't do this," I begged. "Don't do this."

"I don't want to," Klaus hissed. "All I wanted was your allegiance. Now I'm going to have to take it."

"Don't," I beseeched. "Don't."

"You will do exactly as I say, when I say it. You will not run. You will not hide. You will simply just obey," Klaus commanded, compelling me.

He released his hold on my throat and I stood there, taking in air and processing everything he had just said. I was to bend to his command no and there was nothing I could do about it.

"No," Elena breathed out, looking up at me with fear in her brown eyes. "Stefan."

"Now kill them, _Ripper_," Klaus said, looking at me with a fierce gaze. He turned and motioned to the two distraught teenagers who were struggling in Emma's grasp.

"Do something," Elena begged Emma, who stood still, looking at me with a blank face but understanding eyes.

"She can't," Klaus said with a wicked smile on his face. "She has to listen to my every command as well."

Everything in my body pulled me towards the two students that Emma was holding. My gums started to ache as my fangs slowly came out and I could feel my eyes grow dark with bloodlust as I looked at the two. Listening to Klaus, I flitted over to the girl and tore her away from Emma's grip and bit into her neck, tearing the flesh apart, tasting her bland, but filling blood. Dropping her to the ground after a couple of seconds, I looked at Emma and saw her nod her head hesitantly before she shoved the boy over to me, allowing him to tear into his flesh and feed from him until he went dry.

"It's always nice to see a vampire in his true element," Klaus said from behind me. I dropped the body of the male, letting him crumple on to the floor and looked up at Emma who gave me a nod and looked behind me at Klaus. "The species has become such a broody lot."

I turned around slowly and saw Elena with tears brimming her eyes, shaking her head.

"No, you did this to him," she said to Klaus who was crouched down next to her.

"I invited him to the party, love. He's the one dancing on the table," Klaus pointed out, standing up from his crouch.

Wiping the blood off of my chin with the back of my hand, I watched Elena as she looked at me with a disgusted look.

Elena stood up as well, still staring at me with disappointment in her eyes. A part of me felt guilty for her having to see me like this.

Hearing doors being thrown open, I heard Rebekah storm in and shout.

"Where is it?" she asked. "Where is my necklace?"

"What are you talking about?" Klaus questioned his sister.

"She has my necklace. Look," Rebekah shouted, shoving a phone into Klaus's hands. He looked down at the screen and shook his head.

"Well, well. More lies," Klaus said, in a no surprised tone.

I watched as Rebekah seethed, glaring at Elena.

"Where is it?" she asked with a murderous look in her blue eyes.

"I don't have it anymore," Elena said.

Before she could defend herself, Rebekah lunged at Elena after accusing her of lying. She bit Elena and started to feed, making me start to walk over to them to tear her off but Klaus beat me to it.

"Knock it off!" he shouted.

"Make her tell me where it is, Nik," Rebekah whined.

Klaus let out a sigh before turning around and bending down to Elena's level. She was on the floor and started to whimper and back away from Klaus when he got near her, holding her neck.

"Where's the necklace, sweetheart?" he pressed. "Be honest."

"I'm telling the truth," Elena breathed out. "Katherine stole it."

"Katerina," Klaus said, standing up. "Of course. Well, that's unfortunate. If we had the necklace, it'd make things easier for your witch. Since we're doing this the hard way," Klaus trailed off, walking over towards the time box control laying on a table. He slammed his hand down on the box and twenty minutes showed up on the clock. "Let's put a clock on it, shall we?"

The clock buzzed and started to count down.

"Twenty minutes. If Bonnie hasn't found a solution by then, I want you to feed again," Klaus said walking up to me. "Only this time I want you to feed on Elena. You know you want to."

I stood there in shock, listening to his request and command.

"Klaus, don't do this to him," Elena begged him, still holding her neck, trying to slow the bleeding down.

"No one leaves," Klaus announced. "If she tries to run, fracture her spine, Emma."

Turning to look at Emma, I saw her stiffen slightly but nod her head, knowing that she was being forced to do as he said as well.

Klaus walked out of the gymnasium with Rebekah trailing behind him, leaving two vampires who were prepared to kill the human on the floor at any moment. I could tell that this wasn't going to end well for any of us.

* * *

It has been minutes of pure silence and the only noise that I could focus on was the ticking of the clock counting down and the sound of Elena's heartbeat. In minutes, the girl that I loved was going to die at my hands because of the hybrid who only wants to create more monsters like himself.

I paced the gym floor, thinking about all possible ways that I could get out of this. So far, none were coming to mind.

Emma was sitting in the bleachers, sitting on her hands, watching Elena like a hawk. Her eyes never left her.

Elena was standing across from me, holding a towel to the wound on her neck, trying to stop the bleeding.

"Caroline's dad," Elena spoke up finally. "Stefan, he was able to resist compulsion. I don't how, but he did it. Maybe it's possible—"

"Yeah. Maybe it's just mind control, right?" I snipped, cutting her off. "Maybe it takes some focus, couple decades of training. No big deal."

"Stefan, you can control this," Elena said. "When that buzzer goes off, just drink from me."

"You don't get it," I yelled at her. "I can't stop, Elena. I'm a ripper. A ripper doesn't stop." She looked frightened and distraught. I couldn't blame her but we didn't need fear right now. We needed a way out of this situation. "I listen to the words that come out of your mouth and all I hear is the sound of your heart pumping blood through your body. And when that clock ticks down, I'm going to have to feed on you. You want to know what's worse?" I asked her, taking her scared expression and racing heartbeat. "I'm not going to be able to stop."

Elena shook her head and a determined look made its way on her face.

"I don't believe that. You can fight it. You have to want it bad enough," she said.

"Why because I love you?" I asked her.

"Yeah. That's right, Stefan. Because you love me," Elena yelled back at me. "You'll fight because after everything we've been through, you owe me that."

I looked at her for a moment and then looked over at Emma when I saw her fidget in the corner of my eye. Her shoulders were slouched and she looked uncomfortable, upset, hurt, and angry all at once. She wasn't looking at Elena anymore. Instead, she was looking straight ahead at the other side of the gym. Emma didn't meet my gaze and I could tell that she wanted to flee from the scene.

I felt bad for making her listen to our fighting but we had to get it all out before the timer went off.

I looked back down at Elena and shook my head at her before I gave her a nod.

"You know what, you're right. You're right," I agreed. "I owe you everything. Through all of this, you are the one thing that has kept me from giving up from turning it all off. But I can't help what I am, Elena. The more blood that I get, the more I want. And if I get so much as near yours, you are dead."

Elena was stricken and was in denial about the whole ordeal. She couldn't see any of the bad in me even though she just saw me tear apart two of the people she has been in school with since she was probably a little girl.

The clock continued to count down and I could feel my insides churn with anticipation.

I looked up at Emma who was now standing up, only to see her backing up the gym bleachers slowly until she was pressed against the wall. Something was off about her and I didn't know what it was. There was no time to worry about it though because I had to focus on getting Elena out of here alive.

"Elena, you're going to have to run," I told her, trying to refrain my inner most instinct to rip her apart.

"But Klaus said if I run—"

"I know what he said," I responded looking up at Emma whose body was pressed up against the wall at the top of the bleachers, trying to keep herself at bay and control her urges.

Flitting across the gym so that I was in front of her, I grabbed her neck in my hand and watched her eyes grow big, knowing what I was going to do.

"I'm sorry," I said before snapping her neck and watching her limp body tumble down the bleachers until she landed on the wooden floor of the gym with her limbs sprawled out everywhere. I knew when she woke up, she wasn't going to be happy about that but at the moment, I had to do what I could to keep Elena safe.

The clock had a couple of more minutes left but I knew that Emma was going to be out for a while.

As a couple of more minutes ticked by, it finally got past one minute and started counting down from fifty seconds.

Forty.

Thirty.

Twenty.

Ten.

"Elena, please, please, please, please," I begged her. "Run. There is no other way."

"There is another way, Stefan," Elena said, trying to keep a positive outlook on the situation. "It's for you to fight."

The clock was now down to five seconds and counting. The seconds flew by and in the next moment, the buzzer was going off and I fell to the floor, trying to force myself to stop from ripping her apart.

"Stefan, I love you. Fight, Stefan. Don't give up."

"I can't hold it," I grunted out, feeling my insides tear at each other, wanting me to rip into her already. Not being able to refrain from moving, I flitted across the gym, making her scream. I grabbed on to a metal pole that was attached to the bleacher and let out a groan in pain.

"Elena, run! Go!" I shouted.

Finally listening to me, she jumped over Emma's body and ran out of the gym doors, trying to get out of the school. I could hear her run down the hallways and my body couldn't contain itself much longer. I needed to chase after her. I slowed my flitting down by slamming my body into the lockers, walls, and doorways, trying to give Elena a chance to escape. She needed to get out of this school immediately.

Taking a detour, I found myself in the cafeteria where a mop and mop bucket were sitting in a corner. Stumbling over to the mop, I pulled it out of the mop bucket and brought it down on my knee, breaking it in half. Panting, I felt the sweat on my forehead start to drip from my forehead.

Upon hearing the door to the cafeteria open, I shoved the stake into my stomach, hoping the pain would take my mind off of tearing Elena to shreds. Turing around to see who was entering the cafeteria, I saw Klaus holding Elena by the upper arm, dragging her towards me.

"Now this is fascinating," Klaus said with a grin on his face. "I've never seen this before."

The cafeteria doors opened again, this time to reveal Emma who looked angry. Klaus released his grip on Elena and sat down on a table, beckoning Emma to come and join him. I watched as the vampire walked over to Klaus and sat by his feet, glaring at me with the intensity of five stars.

"The only thing stronger than your craving for blood, is your love for this one girl."

Elena looked at me with pity and sorrow in her eyes. That was her way of wanting me to know that she was sorry for what I was going through.

"Why don't you turn it off?" Klaus asked, prompting me to listen to him.

"No," I grunted.

"Come on. Your humanity is _killing _you," Klaus said. "All the guilt must be exhausting. Turn it off."

"No."

"Stefan," Elena said, trying to help me through this.

"You're strong," Klaus started, getting up from the table so he could walk towards me. "But you're not that strong."

He pulled the stake out of my stomach and tossed it over on to the floor, without caring where it landed. Walking up to me so that we were face to face, Klaus spoke once more.

"Turn. It. Off."

Channeling all my energy, I pushed Klaus back, away from me. "NO!"

Klaus wasn't too thrilled and his temper fell short. Taking me by my throat for the second time that night, he pushed me up against the wall behind me and looked directly into my eyes.

"Turn it off!" he shouted his command.

Having no choice but to listen to him, I slowly eased up on the grip I had on him and relaxed against the wall feeling numb. I could no longer feel the restraint I had earlier. I felt free and relaxed. The immense weight that used to reside on my shoulders was no gone and I didn't feel anything.

"What did you do to him?" Elena asked, afraid of the answer she may get.

"I fixed him," Klaus responded, letting go of my throat.

Klaus walked away from me, but I remained leaning against the wall. I watched him as he walked over to Emma and pulled her up so she was closer to his eye level. She was still shorter then him, only coming up to his shoulder; but never the less, Klaus looked into her eyes, compelling her.

"There is no reason for me to hide anything from him. You are now free to talk to Stefan," Klaus said.

Moving away from Emma, Klaus walked over to Elena and I watched him sweep her hair off of her neck, revealing the skin underneath.

"I think a test is in order, don't you?" Klaus pressed. "Perhaps you would like a drink from the doppelgänger's neck."

Looking at the pale skin that was revealed, I focused in on her heartbeat and felt the veins under my eyes come out and my fangs retract. The moment Klaus stepped over to the side and next to Emma, I pushed myself off the wall and looked at Elena for a second, soaking in her features. Her heartbeat was racing and she had an aura of fright surrounding her, making her even more inviting.

Lunging for her, I latched on to her neck and fed from her, enjoying the sound of her screams filling my head as I drank. The blood tasted slightly different from the blood that I had been drinking before since she was a doppelgänger.

Feeling hands on my shoulders, I felt someone pull me back before I could drain her and I snarled, upset that I couldn't finish my meal. Looking at the person who pulled me back, I saw a familiar pair of hazel eyes looking up at me.

"Stefan, that's enough," she said, speaking to me directly.

I looked over at the doppelgänger and saw that she had fallen to the floor and that Klaus was hunched over her body, picking her up.

"I'll be right back," he said to the two of us. "Don't move."

* * *

"The two of you are to stay in Mystic Falls and keep an eye on the doppelgänger. She is to be cared for and if she is harmed when I get back, both of you will be the ones to pay," Klaus said looking between Emma and I who stood next to each other.

Nodding our heads, Klaus let out a sigh and nodded his head.

"If anything happens to her, call me immediately," Klaus demanded. "We can't have her dying now can we?"

With that being said, Klaus turned on his heel and flitted out of the school, leaving town.

"You snapped my neck back there," Emma spoke up after a moment of silence.

"I would say I'm sorry," I said looking down at her with my arms crossed over my chest. "But I'm not."

"Whatever," she scoffed, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms over her chest as well. "Let's just get out of here. I'm tired and sore."

"Not my problem," I responded, before walking out of the cafeteria with Emma following behind me, muttering curse words under her breath.

* * *

_"Where were you, Damon?"_

_"I shouldn't have left. I promise you, I will never leave you again."_

Deciding now that it was the exact moment to barge in on the sacred moment my brother and Elena were having, I spoke up to make sure that my presence was known.

"Well, isn't this cozy?"

Damon shot up from his seat on the chair and turned to face me with annoyance written across his face. I looked over at Elena to see her glare at me with anger. It didn't faze me and it felt nice not to have this nagging pull towards her.

"What are you doing here, brother?" Damon asked.

"Last I checked, I live here," I responded, walking down into the parlor and towards the table behind the couch were the booze were sitting out. Opening a bottle of scotch, I grabbed a cup and poured the liquid into the glass while looking at my brother and – using the term _very _loosely – girlfriend.

"Klaus is gone, but he's asked me and Emma to keep watch on you until he returns," I told Elena, with a smirk on my face.

Hearing footsteps come into the room, I heard Emma speak from behind me as she walked down the steps.

"From now on you're under our protection."

I turned around to look at her and saw her walk towards me. When she was right in front of me, she took the glass of scotch from my hand and raised the glass to her lips, draining the contents before shoving the glass back into my hand.

"Now where is my room?" Emma demanded.

"She's not staying here," Elena protested from the couch.

"Oh?" Emma asked, turning to face the doppelgänger. "And who is going to stop me? I mean Stefan already said that I could stay here and I'm pretty sure that this is the _Salvatore's _Boarding House, not _yours_."

Elena sat in her seat fuming and Damon glared at Emma who stood bestie me with a small smile on her face.

"My room," she pressed, looking at me.

Turing to my brother and Elena for the last time, I motioned for them to continue their conversation before I grabbed Emma's wrist and started to drag her out of the room, to show her where she could sleep so she would get off of my case for the rest of the night.

* * *

**A/N: Okay, so how did you like that chapter? I'm not sure if I really liked it enough or not but that was the outcome of that chapter. **

**For all of you who keep pressing for more Emma/Stefan moments, they are coming soon. Trust me. **

**Review for more! **

**Thanks for everything so far guy. You are all amazing!**


	6. Smells Like Teen Spirit

**A/N: I'm in the process of making a trailer for this story but I think it is really crappy since I have Window's Movie Maker and it's one of my first projects. But if I get any better at it, I was wondering if you would like me to post the trailer on my YouTube Channel and link it on my profile… If you want to send me a PM and/or a review telling me. **

* * *

**Smells Like Teen Spirit**

The Twister map on the floor was coated in blood and the sorority girls were giggling away, having a blast even though they were bleeding out slowly but surely. There were already dead bodies strewn across the house with more to be added.

As I was watching the girls on the Twister mat twist around each other, I saw Emma out of the corner of my eye straddling a male college student's lap, wearing nothing but one of my t-shirts that she used to sleep in last night. Her hair was pulled back into a sloppy ponytail with wisps falling out. The shirt started to ride up, revealing the pale skin of her thighs which the college boy trailed his hands up and down. Emma let out a giggle before digging into his neck, feeding from the innocent boy who didn't make a sound.

Tearing my eyes away from the scene before me, I looked down at the spinner and flicked it, watching it spin and land on red.

"Uh-oh. Alexandra," I sang out, motioning for her to come forward. "Left hand, please."

The brunette haired girl gave me her wrist and I sunk my teeth into her flesh, enjoying the taste of her fresh blood dripping down my throat.

"Hey, the two brunettes on the staircase owe me a Persian rug," my brother said in a slightly annoyed tone as he walked into the living room where we were currently feeding. I pulled away from Alexandra's wrist and wiped my mouth clear of blood before responding to my brother.

"You mean, they owe _us _a Persian rug?" I pressed. "It's my house, too, brother."

Pulling away from the male that she had drained, Emma let out a sigh of contentment and lounged back on the couch. I looked over at her and saw her give me a lazy smile before she smeared the blood off of her lips and on to her cheek.

"Would you like a drink?" she asked, motioning to the girls on the Twister mat. "They all taste divine. Ooh! Or maybe you would like to spin," Emma cheered out, getting up and flitting over to Stefan, snatching the piece of cardboard out of his hands, offering it to Damon.

I lightly chuckled and shook my head at her childish antics.

"So this is what Klaus had in mind when he compelled the two of you to protect Elena?" he asked us, walking deeper into the living room.

Emma gave him a glare and I looked down at the girls who were still giggling and falling on top of one another.

"These ladies are helping me be all that I can be," I answered Damon with a smirk on my face.

There was a knock on the door, causing us all to look over at the door. Damon turned to answer the door and Emma plopped down next to me on the couch, throwing her feet on to my lap. I looked over at her and saw her smiling at me, flicking the pin on the spinner around.

"You have a little something right there," I told her, motioning to her left cheek where the blood was smeared around. Emma just stared at me, silently challenging me to clean the mess up. I leaned towards her and wiped the blood off with my thumb, leaning back once her cheek was clean. Keeping my eyes locked on hers, I stuck my thumb between my lips and licked the blood off of my skin. Her eyes twinkled in the light and a slight smirk formed on Emma's face.

"Where's Stefan?" a familiar voice asked, breaking my gaze away from Emma. I turned to the door way and saw Rebekah walk into the foyer with shopping bags lining her arms.

"Who the hell are you?" Damon asked, watching Rebekah storm past him and over to me.

"He left me here," Rebekah said. "My brother actually left me here."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Emma teased, earning a glare from the blonde Original.

"Your tone implies that I'm actually supposed to care," I added, watching her face drop the moment the words came out of my mouth. Emma gave a short, but loud laugh.

"You're Klaus's sister?" Damon asked Rebekah.

Turning around to face Damon, she answered his question. "Rebekah. Pleasure, I'm sure." Spinning back around to face me, Rebekah looked at me with narrowed eyes. "Which room is mine?"

"You're not staying here," Emma said, beating me to it. A grin made its way on to my lips as I watched Rebekah stare with wide eyes between the two of us.

"Rude," she said. "All of you," she added, looking back at Damon who was standing in the foyer, watching everything play out before him. "I'll see to it myself." With a flip of her hair, Rebekah walked away furiously.

"So I guess she's staying here," I said, looking up at my brother who didn't look amused in the slightest. He gave a curt nod before walking off, leaving Emma, myself, and the sorority girls alone.

"As if you're brother and the doppelgänger weren't enough," Emma scoffed, pulling her legs off of my lap. "Now I have to deal with her, too." Pushing herself off of the couch, Emma got up and walked over to the couch across from me where the dead boy's body was. With a shove, Emma pushed his limp body to the floor and kneeled on the couch, reaching over to the back of the couch to where the bottles of alcohol were. She grabbed the vodka and unscrewed the lid, bringing the bottle to her lips, chugging the clear liquid.

"Take it easy there," I told her, watching her take the bottle away from her lips. "Don't forget we have to go to the high school to watch Elena."

"All the more reason to drink," Emma said, taking another swig of the drink. Getting off of the couch, she started to walk out of the living room.

"Where are you going?" I asked her.

"To get dressed," she responded. "And thanks for cleaning up the bodies in advanced. You're the best."

* * *

After I took care of the dead bodies, I patiently sat in the living room waiting for Emma to come down stairs so we could go and watch Elena. Damon was most likely up in his room and I had no idea where Rebekah was but I could really care less about her at the moment.

A second later, I heard Emma skip down the stairs and walk over to the living room to meet me. Standing before me, Emma gave a small smile before twirling around modeling her clothes. She was wearing a blue crop top button down with dark purple high-waisted shorts that revealed her long legs that seemed to go on for miles. Her feet were clad with nude platforms, giving her a couple inches more to her height. Her eyes were covered with gold sunglasses and a leather handbag hung from her arm. Emma's red hair was wavy and extended halfway down her back.

She looked sexy in her outfit. Knowing that I needed to stop staring at her, I pushed myself off of the couch that I was sitting on and walked towards the door. Opening the front door, I turned around to look at Emma. I could see her eyes narrow through her sunglasses at me.

"Are you coming?" I asked her, motioning out of the door.

With a scoff, Emma strode past me and tipped her head up in the air and stood outside on the porch, waiting for me to show her to the car. I walked out of the house, shutting the door behind me and walked over to the driveway where my car sat, ready to be driven.

"This is your car?" Emma asked, wrinkling her nose up.

"If you have a problem with it, you can walk, sweetheart," I retorted before I opened the passenger door for her. Emma bit back her response and sat down in the passenger seat before I shut the door, walking around the car to get into the driver's side.

The ride to the school was silent and I could see Emma toying with her daylight ring on her finger, looking out of the window.

"No need to act so excited," I teased.

"Shut up," Emma hissed. "I'm getting real tired of you, Salvatore."

"Coming from the person who is always hanging around me," I pointed out.

"I was compelled just like you to watch over this girl, Stefan. If I could, I would leave. But I can't so you're stuck with me and I'm stuck with you. Believe me when I say that you and the doppelgänger girl are the last people that I want to be surrounded by."

I remained silent, thinking about what she said. It was clear that she wasn't a big fan of Elena but I didn't realize that she didn't want to be around me either.

Pulling into a parking spot, the second I cut the engine, Emma jumped out of the car and stood in front of the car, looking back at me.

"Are you coming?" she mocked, turning around, walking towards the school.

Getting out of the car, I quickly caught up to Emma and walked by her side, guiding her into the school.

"So what's my story, Stefan?" Emma asked, moving on from our previous conversation from the car. "Am I your cousin from Vermont whose parents died? Or am I a family friend who has been sent here to get an attitude check?"

"I don't really care," I told her, ignoring the curious eyes of the students here at Mystic Falls High looking at Emma and me.

"Family friend it is," Emma said with a smirk forming on her face. "So where is the blood bag we are supposed to be watching?"

Ignoring her comment, I walked through the hallways listening for Elena's voice. Hearing it after a couple of seconds, I motioned for Emma to follow me as I walked down the hallway we were currently in until we reached the bathroom where Elena came out of. She was looking down at her phone so she was unaware of our presence. Turning to walk towards us, Elena bumped into Emma, who gave her a small shove back, making her stumble back.

"Hello, Elena," Emma greeted with venom dripping from her name.

Elena looked frightened and looked from Emma to me with a confused look on her face. I noticed the scarf around her neck, covering the puncture wounds from my bite.

"What are you two doing here?" she asked.

"What do you mean? I'm going back to school with my family friend," I said, giving the vampire next to me a nudge. "Go Timberwolves."

Emma rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest.

"What? Why?" Elena pressed.

"Klaus wants us to keep an eye on you. We're doing what we're told," Emma responded, glaring down at Elena who shrank a little under her gaze.

"I'm going to be late for class," Elena said quickly, trying to walk around us.

"But class is this way," I told her, grabbing her elbow which made her stop.

"Let go of me, Stefan," Elena said, struggling in my grip.

"Elena, do you think I want to be a senior for the hundredth time?" I asked her, watching her continue to struggle. "No. Do you think Emma wants to be here? No. But if we don't have a choice in the matter, neither do you."

"I said let go of me," Elena repeated, ignoring my statement.

"Let her go," Alaric said from behind Elena, welcoming himself into our conversation.

"Uh-oh, Stefan. Caught by a teacher," Emma feigned surprise. I let go of Elena's arm and held my hands up in surrender with a smirk on my face.

Alaric stood beside Elena and looked between Emma and me, daring us to do something in front of all the students in the hallway. Accepting his challenge, I grabbed him by his throat and pushed him up against the lockers, catching the attention of most of the teenagers in the hallway.

"Stefan, stop it," Elena commanded.

"Let him talk, Elena. I'm pretty sure he's going to need to hear what Stefan has to say to him," Emma said, pushing Elena away from me.

Looking into Alaric's eyes to make sure he got my message, I gave him a pat on the chest before speaking. "You're not going to want to get in my way, okay, Ric?"

Giving a nod, I release my hold on his throat and backed away from him.

"We'll see the two of you in history," I said, standing next to Emma but looking between Elena and Alaric.

"Let's go, Stefan," Emma said, turning around, walking away from the lockers. I followed behind her, leaving Alaric and Elena to think about the conversation we all shared.

* * *

The bell rang, signaling that class was about to begin and Emma and I made our way into Alaric's classroom. Sitting down next to Elena was Caroline and next to Caroline was Tyler.

Emma walked ahead of me and sat diagonally in front of Elena in an empty seat. A boy sat down in the desk right behind Emma and beside Elena, taking the seat that I was going to sit in. Walking up to him, I loomed over him and looked down at him.

"You're in my seat," I told him, making him jump and get out of the seat. Taking my seat, I looked over at Elena and gave her a smirk. "Hey, you."

I ignored Caroline and Tyler's confused looks and turned to face the front. Standing in the front of the classroom next to Alaric was a woman with brunette hair. She was looking down at the lesson plans with him. She was wearing a red dress and nude heels. The bell rang just in time for class to start.

"Welcome back, seniors," Alaric greeted, acting like everything was fine. "Let's turn our brains back on, starting with this country's original founders."

"The Native Americans," the woman finished for him. "Hi, everyone. I'm Miss Ford, I'm going to be your new teacher assistant for the year."

"What about the Vikings?" the familiar sound of Rebekah's voice rang through the air. Alaric and the new teacher assistant lady turned to face the blonde Original who waltzed into class.

"There is no actual evidence that Viking explorers actually settled in the United States," Alaric responded while everyone in the room stared at Rebekah who sat in front of Emma. While I was looking ahead at Rebekah, I saw Emma tense ever so slightly.

"Who are you?" Miss Ford asked, watching Rebekah carefully.

"My name's Rebekah. I'm new. And history is my favorite subject," she replied, most likely with a smug grin on her face. Alaric looked around the room at Elena and Caroline who gave him a cautious look in return while Miss Ford looked at the girl with a stunned expression.

"This class is going to be great," Emma muttered quietly under her breath.

* * *

Running up beside Elena, I stood on her right side and jogged the track alongside of her.

"Look at you," I said, gaining her attention. She looked surprised to see me. "Being all fit." Elena turned her head away from me and tired her best to ignore me. I took it as an offer to continue. "Are you going to the bonfire tonight? I was thinking about bringing Emma since she's never been to one. Sounds like fun, right?"

"Seriously, Stefan, leave me alone," Elena snapped, turning around so she was running the opposite way. I jogged backwards, keeping up with her with no issue.

"You think I'm annoying now, wait 'till homecoming," I teased. "Hey, who are you bringing by the way? I don't want it to be weird, seeing as though Emma will probably make me be her date."

Bumping into a random boy, Elena stopped momentarily to accept his apology.

"Sorry," the boy said. Before he could do anything else, I pushed him away with a little too much force, making him fall down to the ground.

"Watch it, dick," I warned, glaring down at the boy who remained on the ground with a frightened look in his eyes.

"Who are you?" Elena shouted at me.

"The guy who's been assigned to protect a human blood bag," I responded, feeling no need to cover up my purpose for being here at school. Elena looked appalled at what I said but it didn't faze me. "I mean, no offense or anything."

Elena shook her head in disgust before she walked off of the track, trying to get away from me.

I let her go, knowing that I would catch up with her later.

* * *

After school, I drove back home with Emma who complained the whole day about not being able to feed when she was hungry. I tuned her whining out and focused on the road until I pulled into the driveway where I quickly got out of the car.

"I don't remember you being this annoying back in the twenties," I said when Emma was standing beside me.

"A lot can change in ninety years, Stefan," Emma said in a somber tone. Instantly dropping the topic, she walked into the house and skipped over to the little table behind one of the couches where the alcohol was. She grabbed the same bottle of vodka that she drank from this morning and took another drink directly from the bottle. "What do people do at this bonfire I have been hearing about all day?"

"It's a back to school tradition here," I said, sitting down on the couch, throwing my feet up on the coffee table in front of me. I watched Emma nod her head and walk around the couch so she could sit down. She pulled her feet under her and rested the bottle in her hand on the top of her thigh.

"What's going to happen once all of this is all over?" Emma wondered out loud. "I wonder if Klaus will let me go."

I gave her a confused look and waited for her to elaborate. But instead of continuing, she changed the subject.

"When is this bonfire?" she asked me.

"It's not for a couple hours," I responded.

"Well what are we going to do for the time being?"

I shrugged my shoulders and watched Emma send a glare my way.

"You know, you were much more fun back in the twenties," she said. "Those were the good times."

* * *

_"Where are we going?" a frazzled Emma asked me as she followed behind me._

_"I told you we are going to go feed so you can complete your transition," I answered, grabbing her hand, pulling her along. _

_"Do I have to kill someone to complete the transition?" she questioned, adjusting the oversized dress that was hanging off of her shoulders. It was a quick find and we didn't have the time at the moment to sit around and wait to get a new dress tailored to her body. _

_Something in my body was forcing me to make her to complete the transition. There was something about her and her name that was haunting me. _

_"Stefan?" she asked me a moment later. "I don't have to _kill _someone, right?" _

_"You don't have to," I answered her question. "But once you have a taste, you'll want more and more."_

_"I don't want to do this Stefan. I don't want to complete the transition," Emma cried out, trying to pry my hand from hers. _

_I stopped walking and turned around to face her. There were fresh tears trailing down her cheeks and her eyes held terror, fear, anger, and sadness in their eyes. I quickly became angry with the girl in front of me. _

_"You have to, Emma. There is no choice in matter," I yelled, watching her shrink back from me. "If you don't feed you are going to die. There is no way around it. You either complete the transition and live forever or don't feed and die a slow, painful death."_

_Emma's eyes widen, causing more tears to fall from her eyes. Not a moment later, the terrified girl in front of me broke down and started to shake violently with sobs. _

_"I hate you so much," she screamed up at me. "Why did you have to do this to me? I had a life ahead of me. You didn't have the right to come and take it away from me. But that didn't stop you, did it?" _

_"I'm a _vampire, _Emma," I shouted back. "It's in my nature."_

_"You're a monster," she cried. "You're a monster."_

_"Soon you will be, too, Emma."_

_"No, I won't. I told you I'm not going to complete the transition. It's my choice."_

_"No is not an option," I shot back. _

_"Just leave me alone!" Emma screamed._

_I heard the heartbeat of a human before I heard footsteps near us. I looked over to the right and saw a man walk up to us with a disgusted look on his face._

_"Is this man bothering you, miss?" he asked, Emma, talking about me. _

_"I'm sorry, Emma, but this is for your own good," I said before I turned to the man and let my fangs extend from my gums. I saw horror flash on his face before I bit down on his neck and tore the flesh open. Resisting my urges to finish him off, I pulled away from the man and shoved him down to his knees and kicked him in the side, making him fall down on his side in front of Emma who was frozen, staring down at the man's neck. The man shouted and grunted in pain, making me kick him once more, silencing the man. _

_"Give into your urges," I pressed. "Feed, Emma. Become invincible."_

_Emma continued to stare down at the man's neck, not moving from her position. After a moment, Emma leaned forward slowly, not moving her eyes away from the blood. Hovering above the wound, Emma inhaled the scent of his blood and that was enough to send her over the edge. _

_I watched her bury her face into his neck and tear at the flesh, draining the blood from the male laying in front of her. Emma continued to tear at the flesh until the sound of his heartbeat went away. She pulled away with blood coating her chin. Her hazel eyes held a dangerous glint in them and I could tell that this was only the first in a long line of many people who were going to die at the hands of Emma Lancaster. _

* * *

"This is it?" Emma asked, looking around the woods where all the high school students were socializing. "I was excited to come to this?"

"What did you think it was going to be?" I asked her as we walked over to the keg stand where Rebekah was pouring herself a drink.

"I don't know. I just didn't want it to be outside. I hate nature."

"It's a _bonfire_," I said. "What did you think it was going to be?"

"Let's just drop it," Emma snapped, tugging the sleeves of her grey sweater down.

"You all right there?" I asked Rebekah as we approached her. Emma took the cup in her hand from her and took a sip of the dark substance before making a face at the taste.

"What is with your pants?" Rebekah sneered at Emma. Emma looked down at her red pants and dusted them off before she looked up at Rebekah with a glare in her eyes.

"What's with the feather in your hair? Are you part bird or something?" Emma snapped.

"What are you doing here?" I asked the blonde vampire, trying to divert the conversation.

"I thought Tyler would be here," she responded.

"You're into Tyler now, huh?" I asked her, not believing what I was hearing. Why would an Original waster her time on some hybrid.

"Fickle," Emma added after I spoke, earning another glare from Rebekah.

"When you're willing to give me the time of day, Stefan, we'll talk," she said, keeping her gaze locked on Emma. "Until then, a girl has needs."

"Go fill your needs somewhere else," Emma hissed making Rebekah walk away from us, rolling her eyes.

"Really?" I asked Emma, looking down at her.

"What?" she shrugged. "She was pushing my buttons and I didn't like it."

I threw my hands up in surrender and gave her a half smirk to which she responded with an infamous eye roll.

"Excuse me," Elena said, stepping in between Emma and me.

"Hi there, Elena," Emma said with a grin on her face. Elena scoffed at the vampire and pumped alcohol from the keg into the cup that she held in her hand.

"What are you doing?" I asked her, knowing that Elena and alcohol didn't mix well.

"I'm having fun, Stefan. You have a problem with that?" she challenged, drinking from her cup.

"You might want to take it easy," I warned her. "We both know you're kind of a lightweight."

Emma snickered while Elena pulled her lips away from her now empty cup and looked at the two of us.

"Really? You think I'm going to let a _blood addict _tell me how to drink?" she shot back, filling her cup up once more.

Emma let out a dry laugh and shook her head. "Is that what you call a burn, sweetheart? You should _really_ work on those if you actually want them to hurt."

Sending me a quick smile, Emma turned on her heel and walked away, leaving Elena alone with me. She didn't look too thrilled at the moment. She shook her head at me, like a scolding parent would do to their child. Not wanting to hear her complain about my actions, I gave her a forced smile before I walked in the same direction that Emma had gone.

I found her leaning up against a tree near another keg stand that was located a little deeper in the woods and stood next to her. She had her arms crossed over her chest and she was just staring at all of the people surrounding the keg stand, waiting to get a drink.

"You know it's not polite to stare, right?" I asked her in a joking tone.

Emma just let out a sigh and turned to face me. "Is there a reason you are following me?"

"No, I just felt like skipping the whole 'Who are you? You're not Stefan' speech that Elena was bound to give if I stood near her for a couple more seconds," I said.

Emma remained silent, looking at me for a moment before she turned to face the keg stand again upon hearing everyone shout "Drink!" at the same time. Some kid was raised above the keg and started to drink the alcohol while I looked around the area until I locked eyes with Elena who was standing across the clearing, staring at me.

I adjusted my stance and watched as she raised her plastic red cup in the air and drank the contents in her cup after she sent me a glare. I watched her drink from the cup and gave her a mock approval nod once she finished and looked back up at me.

Emma looked over at me and then followed my gaze to see Elena at the other end before she gave out an exasperated sigh.

"Stop egging her on," Emma scolded. "The more you do this, the more she will drink, the stupider she will get."

"Why do you care so much?" I asked her.

"Klaus wants us to make sure she doesn't get in harm's way. What do you think he will do if she winds up dead from trying to tick you off? I honestly think that he wouldn't be too pleased and I'm sorry if I want to make sure that I stay alive for as long as I can," Emma replied. "After all, Stefan, you are the one who really pushed me to make the transition and live forever. Or have you forgotten?"

Not waiting to hear my response, Emma stalked off into the night and headed towards the school, leaving me all alone. Spotting Elena across the clearing staring at Rebekah and Damon this time, I decided to slowly make my way over to her. Once I was behind her, I spoke up, making her jump in fright.

"What's that look?" I asked her while looking at Damon and Rebekah who looked awfully close.

"What look?" Elena countered after letting out a deep sigh, recovering her heartbeat.

"Well, my brother's got his flirt on and you're jealous," I said simply, leaning against the tree that was behind Elena.

"I'm not jealous," Elena denied.

"It's alright, be jealous. By all means. I'm sure Damon will be thrilled," I pressed.

Having enough of me, Elena spun around to face me and shouted. "I'm not jealous, Stefan." She looked angered and pissed off.

"Alright," I said, backing off. "It's my mistake."

Elena took a drink of her beer and shook her head before throwing the cup on the ground.

"Whatever," she spat. "I'm out of here."

With that, she blew past me, walking towards the school as well. I turned around and watched her walk away for a couple of seconds before I slowly started to follow her.

* * *

Walking up to the bleachers where I saw Elena and Emma, I let out a sigh and made my way up to the two girls. Elena was rambling on about the stars and Emma was sitting in the middle of the bleachers with an unamused expression on her face. When her eyes landed on me, Emma stood up and groaned in delight.

"Finally you're here. It's your turn to babysit the drunk. I've had enough of her to last a lifetime," Emma said slowly making her way towards me in the bleachers.

"I used to know every constellation. How did I forget them all?" Elena slurred, gazing up at the stars while she stretched out across a bleacher.

"You're drunk," I told her. "You need to go home."

Slowly getting up, Elena used the metal bars connected to the bleachers to help hoist herself off of the bench.

"Fine. Just let me find my car," she said before she flung herself into the metal bars that guarded the side of the bleachers as well.

"You're joking, right?" Emma asked her. "Of all the ways to die in this town, you want to die in a car accident?"

"Uh-oh," Elena huffed out. "It's the fun-police. I thought you were the life of the party, Emma."

"Alright," I said cutting in. "I'm driving you home. Come on."

I turned around and started to walk down the bleachers, following Emma until I heard Elena start to climb the railings of the bleachers.

Turning around, I shook my head in disbelief.

"What are you, five? Get down," I said.

"Why?" Elena asked with a drunk smile on her face. "Are you afraid that I'm going to—" Elena leaned back with all her weight, making her come close to falling off of the railing. "Whoa!" She regained her balance and looked back at me. "That was close. Klaus wouldn't be happy with you."

"You're hilarious," I said, leaning forward, putting my hands over my mouth to mimic projecting my voice.

"Look, Stefan," Elena called out. "No hands," she said, releasing her hold on the bars. She started to tip back but latched on to the bars with her hands before she could fall to the concrete below. She let out a laugh before she actually started to fall back, her hands slipping from the railings. Screaming as she fell, I flitted over to where Elena was falling towards the ground. But instead of me catching her, Elena fell into Emma's arms. Elena gave her a glare right before Emma dropped her to her feet and took a couple of steps back until she was standing behind my back.

"You're stupid to think that I would let you die on my watch, Elena," Emma said with venom in her voice.

I looked at Elena to see her looking at me, hoping that I would say something to defend her. But before I could say anything, I heard silenced gunshots and a scream from behind me. Whirling around, I saw Emma fall to her knees with tears springing to her eyes. She fell to the ground face first with vervain darts stick out of her back. Looking over her, I saw Alaric standing behind her with his dart gun pointed at me. Before I could react, Alaric pulled the trigger twice, sticking me in the chest with the darts. Feeling the effect of the vervain set in, I fell to my knees as well, blacking out from the pain and weakness.

* * *

_"Stefan."_

Hearing Elena's voice, I started to come to my senses and felt the hot air around me press down on my lungs. Turning over on my back, I looked to my side to see Emma crumpled in a corner still unconscious and Elena crawling over the seats, trying to reach me. Looking to my other side, I saw the trunk door in front of me and kicked the door off of its hinges, allowing an exit for us.

I heard more shuffling and turned back around to see Emma start to move. Elena crawled over her, not noticing that she was moving and crawled over me, getting out with Ric's help.

"Hurry up before it blows," he exclaimed pulling her out of the car.

"Wait, wait, wait," Elena said, making Ric stop.

Feeling hands latch on to my body, I quickly reached out and grabbed Emma's arm, pulling her out of the car as well but dropping her body to the ground. Not being able to grab her, I felt Alaric and Elena pull me away from the car.

"No, no, no," I muttered under my breath trying to tell them to go back. But upon hearing the loud explosion that came from the car, I heard a piercing scream, too and realized that it was Emma who was screaming in pain. The fire died down a second later and my eyes landed on a semi-burning figure. Emma let out blood wrenching screams and I snapped out of my trance and flitted over to the pick-up truck, grabbed a blanket that was in the back, and flitted over to Emma. Flapping the blanket down on top of the patches of fire, I stopped once all the fire was gone and threw the blanket away, examining the damage. Before I could really see what happened to her, Emma shot up and flung her arms around me, crying into my chest. Wrapping my arms around her, I cradled Emma's tiny figure into my chest and tried to soothe her pain.

I looked up to see Alaric and Elena standing over by the edge of the parking lot still and saw them staring at the two of us.

"Let's get you home," I said to her, slowly standing up with her still in my arms. Emma didn't respond, she just continued to cry into my chest.

* * *

_"It's okay if you want to be friends with Damon, again."_

_"I don't."_

_"I think he kind of misses you."_

After making sure that Emma was asleep on the couch, I walked into the foyer where Alaric and Elena were. Upon seeing me, the both of them stopped in their tracks and Ric crossed his arms over his chest while Elena just stood there, staring at me.

"Well, you got us both tonight. Emma more than me," I said motioning to her sleeping figure. "Definitely wasn't expecting that."

"Well, that was the point," Alaric said. "You are bad enough as it is. Add her into the mix," Alaric started, motioning to Emma, "and you are off of the rails."

"You can hate it all you want, but Elena needs our protection." The two of them looked at me, remaining silent and I continued. "I think you're both better off with us around."

"Since when did the two of you become a team?" Alaric asked.

I shook my head, ignoring his question. With a huff, Alaric and Elena turned on their heels and started to walk away.

"Elena, wait," I said, stopping her. She turned around to face me, waiting for me to go on. "You could have let me die in that fire tonight. Why didn't you?"

"Because I still have hope," she said.

"After everything I've done to you, you still think I'll find my humanity again?" I asked her.

"Yes, I do," Elena responded, nodding her head. "I know who you really are. Better than anyone, Stefan. And I'm not giving up on you."

Looking down at her, I thought about the sides of me that she knew. In reality, she only knew one side of me. There were more sides to me than she has seen and the girl laying in the living room has seen more than three of them.

"Elena," I started, "do you have any idea how pathetic that makes you?"

Her face fell instantly and instead of sympathetic, her facial expression looked more emotionless than everything.

"No, Stefan," she said. "It makes me strong."

Delivering a blow to my stomach, I felt wooden stakes tear into my torso. Grunting in pain, I fell to the ground and held my stomach, trying to make the pain go away. Elena tore the stake wrist band off of her wrist and walked out of the door, shoving it into Ric's chest. Alaric gave a dry chuckle before shutting the door behind him, leaving me alone to tear the stakes out of my torso.

* * *

**A/N: So that was a pretty intense chapter, wasn't it? For future warning, if you love Elena, I suggest you not read this story. She will be portrayed the way that I see her in my mind, which is in no way good.**

**I have made a trailer for this story but I am still working on the touch ups. If you would like me to post it to my YouTube channel and put the link up in my bio, send me a PM and/or leave a review telling me so. (;**

**Remember, reviews equal a faster update. (I don't mean that to sound greedy. I just want to know if people actually like this story)**

**Thanks for everything so far! I love hearing your thoughts on the story and what you want to see. I gives me great input and I know what to put in my story. **


	7. Ghost World

**A/N: I am very much aware that Emma and Stefan showed their emotions a little bit in the last chapter. That is the whole point. That little moment they shared after she got barbequed for a minute is the start of their relationship rekindling. **

**I'm going to be trying something new in this chapter. I'm going to switch to Emma's point of view for some of it. If you guys like seeing some of her thoughts and what she thinks, let me know and I'll continue to do so. **

**Since you guys are anxious and want to know when my next update is going to be, start checking my Polyvore account. Whenever I post a new outfit for any of my characters, you know I'm in the process of writing the next chapter. The links to my outfits are on my profile page. (;**

* * *

**Ghost World**

Sitting in front of the couch that Emma was asleep on, I looked down at her and saw that she was healed from the explosion last night. After Elena and Alaric had left, I had tried to get her to drink some blood to make her heal faster and get her strength back, but she refused the blood and turned away from me, falling back asleep. She hadn't moved all night and neither had I. I didn't know why but I felt like I was compelled to stay near her and make sure that she was alright.

"A very annoying vampire once told me that it wasn't polite to stare," Emma said in a hoarse voice, opening her eyes, looking straight up at me.

I rolled my eyes and reached behind me, grabbing the blood bag off of the coffee table. Holding it out in front of her, I watched her sit up a little and take the blood bag from me. She brought it to her lips and within seconds, the blood was gone and she was handing me the empty bag.

"Thanks," she said, sounding much better than she did a couple seconds ago.

I nodded my head and watched as Emma's eyes flickered down to my shirt. Her eyes froze for a moment, making me look down and see the blood from the wound the stakes Elena had left behind in my stomach. I mentally cursed and waited to see what Emma was going to say.

"What happened?" Emma asked, brushing her hair out of her eyes to get a better look.

"Elena and I got into an argument last night," I answered, not diving into further details.

"She did that to you?" Emma pressed, her voice becoming louder and louder.

I remained quiet and watched Emma facial expression change to rage. The smallest part of me found it flattering but it was buried underneath emptiness so I didn't act on it. I just let Emma explode, remembering how back in the nineteen-twenties she would over-react to things that really got her pissed off.

"So leaving me right next to an exploding truck wasn't enough? She had to go and stake you, too? What a keeper you had, Stefan," she hissed. "That bitch is going to get what's coming to her and I'm going to personally deliver the message," Emma said, starting to push herself off of the couch.

I rolled my eyes and pushed her back down on the couch.

"Just calm down, Emma," I said. "I'm going to watch over Elena today while you rest for the day. I'm sure Klaus wouldn't want a wounded soldier on the field."

Emma gave me a glare and huffed, sinking back in the couch. I released my grip on her shoulder and the moment I wasn't holding her back, Emma flipped around and pinned me down to the floor between the couch and the coffee table.

"I'm not wounded, Stefan. In fact, I'm feeling just fine," she said, holding me down by my throat. Since I was the older vampire in this situation, I flipped us over and held her down by her throat now.

"I don't care what you are feeling," I snarled back. "I said I'm going to be watching Elena today. You are going to stay here and rest because I said so."

Emma didn't struggle under my grip. Instead she just sneered and flipped us over again, this time, crushing her weight down on me and tightened her grip on my throat.

"I never said I wanted to be around _Elena,_" she spat. "You can watch over her for today. But you must be a fool if you think I'm going to do what anyone tells me to do. You of all people should know that, Stefan."

With that being said, Emma flitted out of the room, leaving me on the living room floor where I regained my breath and pushed myself off of the floor, grumbling at Emma's actions.

* * *

_"Is Anna here right now?"_

_"No. No. I'm going to go check my work schedule."_

Taking Jeremy's exit from Elena and Alaric's table as my cue, I walked up to the table and spoke up.

"Hey, guys." Elena's head snapped up to look at me and Alaric just lounged in the chair, throwing me an annoyed glance. "Who forgot to invite me to the family summit?"

Taking the empty seat that Jeremey was sitting in before, I plopped down next to Elena and looked down at the table to see what she was reaching for. Beating her to it, I picked up one of my old journals that Elena had and opened the leather bound book.

"Oh, wow," I said, skimming an entry. "All these words. I forgot how much I used to care." I tied the book back up and set it down on the table.

"I didn't," Elena said, looking at me with hope in her brown eyes. I looked over at Alaric to see him staring at me with a blank expression. I sighed in annoyance and adjusted myself in my chair before I began to talk again.

"You know, Elena, it's probably best you not torture yourself with memories from the past." She looked down at the table and then flickered her eyes up at me, trying to break through to me. She didn't realize that it wasn't going to work. "It's best we both just move on and accept things as they are."

"You don't have to be here, Stefan," Alaric said, diverging the conversation to spare Elena's feelings.

Looking over at him, I gave him a smirk. "You know what, Alaric? You're right, I don't," I cleared my throat before continuing. "But Elena's here and I have to look out for her." Elena shook her head in disgust and avoided my glance. "Besides, there's going to be people everywhere tonight, so there's going to be lots to eat."

Elena looked over at me with horror on her face and I let out a chuckle at her reaction.

"I'm kidding. I'm kidding," I laughed. Getting up out of the chair, I looked down at the two humans. "Loosen up."

With that, I walked away, tuning out the rest of their conversation, pulling out my phone to check and see where Emma was. That was, if she would answer my calls. After our little argument at the house, she left the house while I changed my shirt and she had been dodging my calls all day so far.

I decided to call her later and slipped my phone into my back pocket as I walked beside a car. I looked in the windows of the car and saw a familiar blonde head of hair smiling at me in the reflection of the window. Turning around instantly, I faced my dead vampire friend with wide eyes.

"Lexi?"

She gave me a smile and stared at me for a bit before responding.

"Hi."

I continued to stare at her in confusion. She wasn't supposed to be here.

"You're dead."

"Technically, so are you," she responded with a wink.

"I mean, how the hell can I—" Lexi cut me off, finishing my sentence.

"See me? Yeah, I have no idea and I have no idea how long it's going to last. So let's get to the point. You're off of the rails, big-time. And that Emma girl is no help to your situation."

"I don't know how you're here, but you need to leave me alone," I told her, about ready to walk away only to have her catch me by my arm and pull me back.

"What kind of friend would I be if I didn't help you out of this mess you're in?" Lexi asked with a twisted smile on her lips.

"I don't want your help," I told her, trying to walk away.

She sidestepped me, blocking me.

"You know you say that every time. 'I don't want your help.' 'I don't want to get better.' 'Leave me alone.'"

"Maybe you should listen this time," I warned her, not impressed with her mocking me.

"Or maybe I should do this," she responded after rolling her eyes at me.

Pushing my head back, she made it snap against the window of the car. In that moment, everything went black and I could feel nothing.

* * *

After I walked out of the boarding house, I adjusted my navy blue tank top that was tucked into my red high-waisted jeans. Looking around the front yard, I flitted away from the house, wanting to get far away from the ripper who was pissing me off at the moment.

When I decided to stop, I noticed I was in front of the school and decided to go inside since no one was here. Today was some town celebration that I had no desire to be a part of. As I walked up to the doors, I looked around and saw a little girl and her mother walking down the road towards the town square. The little girl looked like she wasn't older than six years of age. She had curly pigtails and a bright smile on her face.

The mother had a smile on her face as she looked down at her child and the two walked away, leaving me alone to myself. Memories of my mother and I flooded back into my head. I missed my erratic mother. She died when I was ten and my father killed himself a little while after so my grandmother became my guardian. I remembered I used to dream about her just like she was before she left and never came back. Her blonde hair was extremely curly and she was frantic. She seemed to be afraid of something. She didn't say goodbye or anything. She just left leaving my dad in me in her wake, fretting over what was to happen.

Shaking the memories out of my head, I walked up to the main doors of the school and pulled them open, surprised that they were unlocked. Hearing noises come from down the hall, I slowly and silently started to walk towards the noise staying close to the lockers, listening to it as it got louder the closer I got. Suddenly the noise stopped. I froze and looked around the hallways. The noise came back but this time it was behind me. Turning around, the noise stopped. Turing back around, I came face to face with a familiar face.

"Mom?" I whispered, not believing that she was in front of me.

"Emma," she cooed out.

"How?" I asked, fear and wonder evident in my tone.

"I never left your side, sweetheart," my mother, Kathryn, said cryptically, brushing a strand of my hair out of my eyes.

"You left us that night," I choked out. "You left Dad and me behind. When you turned up dead, Dad took his _life_ to be with you. I had to live with grandmother. I just want an answer. What happened to you?"

"There are things you never knew about me, Emma," my mom said, avoiding my question. "You were too young to understand it all."

"What _happened_?" I repeated with tears forming in my eyes. It was hard seeing my mother right in front of me.

"There was this man," she stared. "He was very powerful. He needed more power to complete a ritual. He threatened to kill you, Emma. I had to do it."

"What do you mean? What ritual? What part would you have in it?" I asked. The moment the last question left my mind, I realized what she meant. "You're a witch."

My mother stood there in front of me, staring at me with a sad smile on her face. "I was there with you for everything. I couldn't forgive myself for leaving you. I saw everything." There was pain in her voice. "I saw what that monster did to you. He _killed _you, Emma."

In that moment, I knew that she was talking about Stefan.

"He turned you into this monster. But you could have made your own choice and done the right thing. You could have decided not to make the transition. Do you know how many innocent lives you have taken Emma?" she asked me, sounding disgusted.

"Mom—" I stopped short, feeling effects of whiplash. Everything was happening so fast. I couldn't help but feel dizzy. It seemed as if everything around me was starting to spin.

"I raised my daughter better than that," my mother said, her face becoming stone cold. She grasped the side of my head in her hand and looked me in the eyes. "I guess I'll just have to show you the right path."

After the words left her mouth, I didn't have any time to process her words. My mother slammed my head into the lockers with brute force and everything around me faded into darkness.

* * *

_"Klaus really did a number on him, huh?"_

_"He compelled him to turn off his humanity. And Emma isn't exactly a help to the whole problem."_

_"Well, we're just going to have to convince him to turn it back on. I have to wary you, it's not going to be pretty."_

_"I can handle it."_

Feeling someone kick my legs, I opened my eyes and became more alert to my surroundings.

"Wake up, sleepy head," Lexi shouted. I looked up at her and saw Elena standing next to her, looking down at me with pity written across her every facial feature. I looked around and noticed that I was in the old jail cell that was underneath the current jail building. "How are you feeling?" Lexi asked with fake pep in her voice.

I looked down at my arms and legs only to notice that I was chained to a chair. I tried to break the chains but they wouldn't budge. I let out a dry laugh and looked up at the deceased vampire/ghost in front of me.

"What is this?" I asked, trying to break free of the chains once more, but failing again. "Let me out of here," I said in a louder tone.

"Shh," Lexi said, putting her hand up to silence me. "Inside voices, please. I'm trying to get inside your head."

I gave another dry chuckle in disbelief and looked over at Elena. "Elena? Get rid of her, please."

"No," she replied.

"First step, drying him out," Lexi said, pulling my attention back up to her. "Starve away the bloodlust. Strip away the temptation."

I looked between the two, and gave a short laugh. If they thought this was actually going to make me feel again, they had another thing coming. Why would I want to feel all the pain, anger, and sadness again? It was much easier being emotionless.

"This isn't going to work, Lexi. You can't do this," I told her, already seeing the overall outcome.

"You heard the 'not pretty' part?" Lexi asked Elena from over her shoulder.

"I heard you," Elena responded, nodding her head.

Lexi crouched down to my eye level and looked in my eyes, weaseling her way into my head. I could feel a small presence inside my head and I knew that it was Lexi and her mind control tricks.

"What are you doing?" I asked her right before I felt her tricks take effect. I let out a groan of pain but tried to fight the feeling. I tugged up on the chains, trying to get free but I felt weak and hungry. "What are you doing, Lexi?" I yelled.

"Doing what I do best, sweetness," she replied while I continued to groan in pain and yank on the chains. "I'm saving your life."

The feeling of starvation was killing me. I was hungry and I wanted to rip into someone's flesh at the moment. I wanted to feed and get rid of the feeling. I mustered all my strength into pulling up on the chains, but it wasn't enough and I ended up tiring myself out more than helping myself. I continued to yank on the chains in desperation of getting out.

"I'm starving. I'm starving," I hissed out. "I'm starving. Let me out! Let me out," I repeated, a little quieter than the first time. "Please, let me out."

"What's happening?" Elena asked, looking down at me with fright on her face.

I blocked out what Lexi was saying, not wanting to hear what she was doing to me and make it that much worse. I just wanted it to stop. I wanted to leave and rip into flesh. Hell, I would even settle for a blood bag at this point.

"Let me out," I begged.

"Two years," Lexi said, making me infer that that was how long I was mentally without blood. "Five," she said after I let out a frustrated groan.

"Did I ever tell you how glad I am that you're dead?" I sneered at her, fighting through the intense pain to spit venom in her face.

"Aww. I missed you too, friend," Lexi replied with a grin on her face.

Elena's phone rang and she pulled it out of her pocket and walked out of the little old cell to answer the call. I relaxed for a moment in my chair, fighting the pain as much as I could. I was so weak that I couldn't over hear Elena's conversation.

* * *

Waking up, I looked around to see where I was. Seeing the familiar chalkboard and desks, I realized that I was in the history teacher's classroom. The lights were off, the blinds were closed, and the only source of light was the flickering of candles. I pushed myself off of the floor that I was laying on and looked up. My mother was standing in front of me with her arms over her chest. Her green eyes were narrowed as she stared at me. I tried to walk towards her but was stopped when I hit an invisible wall. I tried to walk forward again but I bumped into the same wall. Looking down at my feet I saw a ring of rock salt surrounding me. I looked up at my mom with wild eyes.

"What are you doing," I asked her, looking up at her with pleading eyes.

"At least your emotions are halfway on," she said, ignoring my questions. "That will help me a little."

My mom walked up to me and snatched my right hand into her grip. Her fingers wrapped around my daylight ring and she yanked the gold band with lapis lazuli stone off of my finger and set it down on the floor just outside of the circle that encased me. She stood up and closed her eyes, holding her hands down towards the ring. She started to chant in Latin and terror wrecked my entire being as I saw my ring start to shake.

"Mom, please stop," I begged. "Please. Without that ring I won't be able to go out in the sun. I'll be trapped."

She just ignored me and continued to chant. My breathing became uneven and I couldn't stop myself from freaking out. Her chanting got louder and the ring started to crack. The flames from the candles rose and I cringed from the heat and light, watching as my ring shattered into pieces.

I let out a scream and fell to my knees.

"Why?" I murmured.

"I'm doing this to straighten you out," she answered. "You're a monster."

Anger bubbled in my being. How could she hurt me like that? Didn't she know what she was doing? My rage took control and I lashed out at her.

"You can't fix a _monster_. Especially one who embraces what they are and enjoys the kill," I spat at her.

"Emma, listen to what you are saying," she replied.

"I am, Mom!" I screamed back.

"No child of mine will accept being a monster," my mom said with a shake of her head. She walked behind the teacher's desk and opened one of the drawers, pulling objects out. She slammed them down on the desk and I looked down at them, noticing that they were stakes.

My eyes doubled in size and I tensed up.

"It's my duty to make sure that you are corrected," she said, brushing a piece of blonde hair out of her face. Taking a stake into her hand, she walked around the desk and over to me. She stood in front of me and played with the stake in her hand. "I'm doing this for your own good, Emma," she said, looking up at me with pity in her eyes.

"You would kill your own child just like that?" I spat at her.

"I'm not going to kill you," she said. "By the time I have broken through to you, you will want to kill yourself and right your wrong, sweetheart."

Not wasting anytime, my mother jabbed the stake into my ribcage, just below my heart. The tip of the stake was touching my heart and all the air in my lungs rushed out and pain took over. Screaming, I bared my fangs, ready to pounce on my mother, but was stopped by the invisible wall.

"You _bitch_!" I screamed out, watching as my mother took a step back in shock.

Taking the opportunity, I pulled the stake out of my chest cavity and threw it to the side, healing almost instantly. I looked at her and saw that she had another stake in her hand. Hissing at her, I challenged her, waiting for her to attack me again.

* * *

The pain had subsided and now all felt was my veins rubbing together like sandpaper along with my other organs. I needed to get out of here. I was becoming dizzy and everything was blurring together. I looked up and saw the familiar figure of Emma standing in front of me.

"Emma?" I asked, watching her look towards the doorway in confusion and then back at me. "Emma. I'm hurting. Please help me."

Emma shook her head with confusion in her eyes. "Stefan—"

I cut her off, needing her to help me. "I'll do anything, Emma. I'll change. I promise, just get me out of here. I'm sorry. I'm sorry," I apologized to the vampire in front of me. "Just make it stop. Please, make it stop."

"Don't fall for it," Lexi warned her, capturing Emma's attention. Her eyes showed that she looked hurt.

"Hey, look at me, look at me," I begged Emma, watching as she turned to me. Her face started to blur but I focused on her still. "Emma, I love you. I love you so much." Emma began to tear up and her face changed and it was no longer Emma standing there. Instead it was Elena who was ready to cry.

"What happened? Where's Emma?" I yelled, fighting against the chains. "I need her to get me out of here."

"Emma was never here, Stefan. She didn't come to save you," Elena said through clenched teeth. "It's been me here this entire time."

I shook my head in disbelief.

"I just saw her," I muttered.

"You were hallucinating," Lexi said.

"This is for your own good, Stefan," Elena said, trying to fight the tears in her eyes. "I'm helping you."

"I don't want your help, Elena. I wish I'd never met you. Every moment that I've spent with you has been a complete and total waste," I spat, watching as Elena looked like a tortured girl.

"You see that?" Lexi asked, cutting in. "That's the ripper talking. Once he's weak enough, you have to cause him pain. Make him feel things. Anger, rage, anything."

I let out a growl and started to pull on the chains once more, trying to free myself. I wanted to get away from Lexi and Elena. I didn't want to feel this pain anymore.

"You have to make him feel past the blood."

Rearing back a little, Lexi revealed the stake she had in her hand a moment before she drove it into my side, making me yell out in pain and rage. She left it in there for a while, watching me writhe in pain before taking it out. I felt myself slowly heal while I listened to what Lexi said next.

"Think of it as a regimen. Day in and day out," she said to the shell shocked Elena. "Like running the treadmill. Like making coffee. Until he's ready to be saved."

The two looked down at me and all I could focus on right now was the stake in Lexi's hand and what she was going to do with it next. Taking a step forward, I saw her lunge towards me with the stake but I spoke up, making her stop before she staked me.

"I will rip you apart, Lexi," I yelled, hoping my words had an effect on her.

"You can't," she said with a sad smile on her face. "I'm already dead."

Plunging the stake below my collar bone, I let out a groan and tossed my head back in pain. Pulling the stake out of me, Lexi turned to watch Elena run out of the room after saying that she couldn't watch any longer.

* * *

"You're not supposed to be this," my mother hissed at me, plunging yet another stake into my body. "You were supposed to grow old and die just like everybody else."

"What do you want me to say, Mom?" I asked her, panting from the pain coursing throughout my body. "Do you want me to regret everything that's happened? Do you want me to regret feeling like I belonged for the shortest amount of time?"

"Exactly, Emma. It was short and not meant to be."

"You don't know that!" I screamed at her as she ripped the stake out of me. "My happiness was ripped away from me. He was taken from me and there was nothing I could do about it!"

"He made you this monster, Emma. You can't feel for him," she threatened.

"Why should I listen to you?" I challenged. "You're dead and he showed me what it felt like to be wanted. Stefan made me feel alive."

"Compulsion," my mother spat.

"A vampire can't compel another vampire like that! You have to be an Original to do that."

"How do you know about Originals?" Mom asked me, stopping her torturing session.

"Because I know one," I said. "Klaus."

* * *

"Quit fighting me, Stefan," Lexi demanded, standing behind me, trying to mess with my head once more. "I know you're in there."

"Not anymore, Lexi," I replied, avoiding her gaze as she leaned over to look at me.

Walking around the chair, Lexi crouched down in front of me and looked at me with a dead serious expression. "You know you say that every time? Until I make you feel again."

Taking the stake that was still in her hand, she plunged the wooden tip into my stomach, making me emit a small groan of pain.

"You wasted your whole life taking care of me," I told her. "Now you're dead and you still have nothing better to do."

She pulled the stake out of my stomach just as Elena came in, making Lexi stand up instantly.

"We're running out of time," she informed Lexi.

"You've got to get me more," Lexi said.

"I can't."

"No," Lexi shouted, turning to face me. "Not until I break through."

"I can't, Lexi," Elena apologized. "They have the necklace, they're going to close the door."

A thought dawned on Lexi and she muttered under her breath turning to face me.

"The necklace," she started, bending down to my level. "That necklace. At least tell me you remember how you felt about that. You found it during your darkest time. And you said, when you made it through, that that necklace represented hope."

I looked up at Elena who was looking at the two of us with hope.

"Ironic, then, that it's about to get blown to pieces," I retorted.

Elena shook her head and turned away from me while Lexi stood up and walked behind me for a second before she walked back in front of me and faced Elena.

"He's still in there, Elena," she said. "You just have to break through."

I remained silent, waiting for this to all be over so I could be freed.

"It's okay, Lexi, I know what to do now," Elena reassured the vampire/ghost. "You can be free."

A sad smile graced Lexi's lips and she nodded her head and looked down at me before vanishing into thin air, leaving the two of us alone.

* * *

"No," she muttered, looking around the room with horror on her face. "No. This isn't supposed to happen. This wasn't supposed to happen."

"What are you talking about?" I asked her.

My mother froze and clutched her chest, dropping the stake to the floor. Her facial expression was pained and she started to gasp for air.

"Mom?" I asked her, becoming slightly worried.

"No, I haven't finished, Emma," my mother breathed out.

"Mom?" I repeated.

Looking up at me, I saw a tear fall from my mother's eyes before her being disappeared altogether. There was a gust of wind that blew the circle of rock salt around, freeing me from the bond. Taking a step, my weakened body gave out and I fell to the floor, only to have my head snap against the tiled floor. Everything went black once again.

* * *

Looking up at Elena who was leaning against the wall of the underground cell, I spoke up, making her look at me.

"So what are you going to do, Elena?" I asked her, ready to get out of these bonds. She remained silent. I tilted my head to the side and continued. "Are you just going to stand there and wait for me to dry out?"

Elena squared her jaw and shook her head, pushing herself off of the wall. "No, I'm going to go home, take care of my brother, be a friend to Bonnie, and everything else that I have to do." She turned around and started to walk away when I spoke up again.

"That's good for you," I said. "You know, I was wondering when you were going to give up." Spinning around on her heel, Elena looked down at me with angered eyes. "Lexi give you enough of a glimpse into your tragic future?"

"I haven't given up, Stefan," she responded, tucking a strand of her chocolate hair behind her ear before walking towards me. "I still have hope. But there's nothing that I can do until you get yours back."

I rolled my eyes and looked away from the doppelgänger in front of me. She bent down and took my face into her hands, making me look at her.

"Hey, you can break through this. Fight for it. Feel something. Anything, Stefan," she begged, as if it would move me into seeing her point. "Because if you don't, you're going to lose me forever. I won't love a ghost for the rest of my life."

Letting go of my face, she stood up and walked out of the room slowly, leaving me to my thoughts. She shut and locked the door behind her before really leaving the cell.

* * *

**A/N: Okay so that was the chapter! Did you like Emma's point of view or was it too soon? I would really love to hear your thoughts on this chapter. **

**The trailer for this story is still a work in progress so the trailer won't be up until a little later on in the story. But when I do upload it, I will give you the link. (:**

**Thanks for everything, guys. It really means a lot to me that you guys give me feedback. I love hearing what you want because then I know what to work with to make this story better for you all. **

**Thanks  
-NS1918**


	8. Ordinary People

**A/N: I can't tell you how sorry I am that I can't update more than twice a week. I am slammed with school crap and I can't just push the work to the side. I want to get into a good college. My school work takes priority. **

**Okay, so, you all seemed to really like the last chapter. I love reading your reviews. They make me laugh so hard at some of your comments. I love you all. I'm going to start replying to all of your reviews. I can't tell you how happy I am to know that you guys really enjoy my story. **

**I'm going to answer some questions really quickly here. **

**Emma's daylight ring****: yes, it is destroyed. No she won't get it back. You'll just have to see what happens. (:**

**Did Emma just die?**** No, she just fainted because of all the stress and blood loss.**

**Flashbacks:**** there are more to come. In fact, there is one in this chapter. **

**Klaus/Emma/Stefan:**** that is a BIG no, no. Sorry. However, it wouldn't be TVD without a love triangle. Emma will fall for someone else soon. Just you wait. (;**

* * *

**Ordinary People**

Hearing heels clack against tiles nearby, I slowly peeled my eyes open and stared at the door as the sound of heels became louder. I tried to move a limb but didn't have the energy for it. I knew I had healed and everything, but I was hungry, exhausted, and drained of all life. Taking a breath took energy away from me.

The sound of the heels against the floor grew louder. When a pair of black heels stood in front of the doorway to the classroom, the pair of feet stood still for a second before they rushed forwards and stopped in front of me. The woman who was standing in the heels bent down and I saw Miss Ford looking down at me with worried eyes.

"What happened?" she asked, brushing strands of her brown hair out of her eyes. When she spoke, all I heard was the sound of her heartbeat echoing in my ears. My mouth watered in hunger but I controlled my urges. I wasn't going to feed from her. Too many people would notice her absence. Miss Ford looked around the room and saw all of the candles, salt, and stakes scattered around the room. "Why are all of Alaric's stakes scattered around the room?"

Hearing those words come from her mouth, I cocked my eye brow up in confusion.

"You know?" I asked her in a quiet whisper, not wanting to hurt my throat.

"Of course I know," Miss Ford said. "We have to get you out of here. Teachers are going to be here within the next half hour."

Wrapping her arms around my shoulders, she pulled me to my feet; surprising me with her strength. She put one of my arms over her shoulders and started to drag me out of the classroom quickly towards the back of the school.

While she was dragging me through the hallways, I looked into the other classrooms and saw the sun streaming through the blinds. I started to shake my head weakly, making Miss Ford stop.

"What?" she asked me.

"My daylight ring," I muttered. "I can't go outside."

"But you can't stay here," she responded, thinking of other possible ways to get me out of the schools. "I have an idea," she said after a minute. She spun around and dragged me back down the hallways, leaving me to wonder where we were going.

* * *

Hearing the door to the cell that I was being kept in unhinged, I looked up and saw my brother standing in the doorway. I was a little disappointed that it wasn't Emma. She's been AWOL since I last saw her and at this point I didn't know how long that had been.

"You know, if you two are going to keep me locked in here for the next decade, I think we can skip the routine visits," I sneered, wanting nothing more than to be left alone.

"You know I'm not a big champion of this whole Lexi-Recovery-Plan," Damon said, throwing his hands up in the air as he walked towards me slowly. "But Elena thinks this place is going to weaken you out, break you down, and make you feel again." Tugging on the chains that came from the ceiling, Damon looked everywhere but where I was.

"We should all listen to Elena, right?" I snapped. "I mean, her plans always work out so well, don't they?" Damon gave a little laugh before shaking his head at me. "Why are you here anyway?"

"What are you talking about?" Damon teased. "It's family day at Vampire Rehab. Just paying a visit to my baby brother."

"Go away," I said in a non-amused tone as Damon sauntered behind me.

"Nah. Nah, I thought we could hang out," Damon suggested, ignoring my wishes, as usual. "A little brother bonding." Patting my back, Damon leaned down next to my face and questioned me further. "How you been, Stef? Huh?"

"You know," I started, turning my head to look at Damon. "Klaus may want to keep Elena alive but that doesn't mean she's safe with Rebekah."

Damon thought about it for a moment but then scrunched his nose up and shook his head.

"Liar, liar, pants on fire, brother. Klaus compelled you to protect Elena and if you thought for even a _second _that she was in danger, you would be working a lot harder."

"You got me," I laughed when Damon pulled away and walked towards the door.

"Yep," he called out over his shoulder.

"You got me. You're good. Congratulations," I spat at my brother. "You can go now."

Damon looked me up and down and confusion crossed his eyes.

"You really have given up."

I rolled my eyes at my brother's words and shook my head a little bit before responding. "Actually, this is my happy face." I gave him a cynical smile and watched as he flared his nostrils in annoyance and walked over to me.

Taking a hold of the chains wrapped around my chest, he pulled them off without any effort and freed my hands from their chains as well. I looked up at him with a skeptical look, wondering what it was that he was up to.

"What are you doing?" I asked him.

Shrugging, Damon walked to the door and turned to face me when he was past the threshold.

"Screw this Lexi plan. I think we could both use a drink."

* * *

"Everyone is gone. The school day is over now, we just have to get you out of here," Miss Ford said to me as I slouched against the basement boiler room's floor. I had been stuck under the school the whole day and the smell of the teenagers' blood was driving me insane. I felt near death and I couldn't move a _millimeter_ without feeling searing pain.

"Why are you helping me?" I asked her. "You have had multiple chances to kill me today, knowing what I am and yet you help me. Why?"

"Just because it seems like no one likes you, Emma, doesn't mean that everyone wants to kill you," Miss Ford responded.

"How do you know no one likes me?" I asked in a hoarse tone.

"Alaric fills me in on everything," she responded.

"Why did you come to Mystic Falls if you knew about vampires?"

"What is this? Twenty Questions?" the brunette haired teacher asked. "I actually came here to help kill Klaus."

"_Kill Klaus?"_ I asked, shocked more than anything. "You can't kill him. The dagger doesn't work. And even if it did, you could never. Klaus knows everything."

"Then we'll find another way," Miss Ford said. "Nothing is impossible."

"You don't know what you're up against here," I replied, becoming a little lightheaded from all the energy I was putting into talking.

"Trust me," she started. "I know what I'm getting myself into."

* * *

Walking into the bar, Damon called Elena up and let her know that her plan didn't go as planned. I took a seat at the bar and looked over at my brother, seeing him hang up on the doppelgänger on the other line.

"What are we drinking?" he asked me, leaning against the bar's counter top.

"Hopefully something a little bit warmer." My eyes flickered over to the blonde waitress coming our way and I gave her a wave. "A little blonder."

Damon gave me a smirk as he caught what I was implying.

"Hi," she said in a cheerful voice.

"Hello, _Callie_," Damon said, giving her his infamous smoldering look. "I would love a shot of your best whiskey, and my brother here would love a shot of _you_." Compelling the girl, he took her arm and held it out to me.

"What's the catch, Damon?" I asked him. I had a hunch that he had an ulterior motive.

"No catch, brother," he responded. "Drink up. It's on me."

Seeing no reason to pass up fresh blood, I leaned down and sunk my extended fangs into Callie's arms, enjoying the sweet taste of her blood as it drained down my throat.

* * *

_Letting the body in her arms drop to the floor, I watched as Emma let out a pleased sigh and lick her lips. When she looked back down at me, I saw her eyes quickly change from murderous to lustful. I remained seated in my chair and watched as she crossed the room, walking over to me in nothing but her slip that was drenched in blood. It was pleasing sight to see. _

_Finally reaching me, she lowered herself down on to my lap, straddling me in the chair and wrapped her arms around my shoulders, pulling herself closer to me. _

_In the two weeks since she had made the transition, Emma had become a fierce vampire; seeing as she turned her emotions off. _

_"It seems as though I was the one having all the fun," Emma said in a teasing tone. "That just won't do."_

_I raised an eyebrow in interest and watched as she slowly dipped her head down to place a kiss on my lips. My hands moved to her hips and I rubbed small circles into her lower back, making her moan into the kiss. _

_She pulled away for a moment and tore the shirt on my chest off, throwing it across the room. Emma smirked before lowering her head down to my chest, leaving open mouthed kisses across the skin. I rolled my head back, tangling my fingers in her hair. I could feel her lips curl up at the corners while she continued the assault on my chest with her lips. After a minute, I pulled her away from my chest and latched my lips on to her neck, teasing the sensitive skin with my teeth. Emma groaned and tilted her head to the side, giving me better access to her neck. _

_Desire washed through my body and my judgment was clouded. Pulling my lips off of her neck, I untangled my hands from her hair and wrapped them around her waist instead, hoisting her up with me as I flitted over to the bed in the corner of my apartment. I threw her down on the bed and stared down at her for a moment. _

_Her hazel eyes locked with my green eyes and I saw something click into place as her eyes changed from emotionless to loving. _

_Reaching her fingers up, she ran them through my hair before speaking. _

_"I'm glad I met you, Stefan," she whispered, searching my eyes for a response. _

_I gave her a quick smile in response and then lowered myself down on top of her, continuing for the rest of the night. _

* * *

Slamming a quarter down on the table, I watched as it landed in the cup before smirking at my brother who was holding the waitress in his lap.

"Drink up, brother," I said.

Damon rolled his eyes before taking the empty bottle of whiskey in his hand and giving it to the waitress. "Will you get us another bottle of this?"

Having no choice but to comply with his question, she got up and walked over to the bar, getting another bottle of alcohol. Damon turned back to me and leaned on the table.

"You've been on this bunny diet for the better part of fifty years," he stated. "So how is it that Saint Stefan, of all people, gets good at a drinking game?"

"Well, the bunny diet gave me a lot of time to practice," I answered my brother, picking up a couple of more quarters. "Wallow in despair." _Clink. _"Drown in guilt." _Clink. _"Regret my existence." _Clink. _The sound of the quarters landing in the cup rang in my ears. "It's precision born out of tragic boredom. Drink up, brother."

Damon picked up his glass of whiskey and shook his head at me. "All that effort wasted trying to tell you how boring you were, and now you finally agree with me?" Tipping the glass back, he drained the contents of his cup and set it back down on the table.

I shook my head at my brother, not wanting to go down this road with him.

"Damon, you are worse than Elena," I told him in all honesty. "Getting me drunk. Brotherly bonding. What, you think I'll break down, and you can pull me back from the edge? Is that it?"

"I happen to like the edge, Stefan," Damon responded. "You're problem is your inability to resist falling over it." I nodded my head, taking in what he had to say before he continued. "You're all or nothing, man. You can't just _be._" At that moment, the waitress walked over and sat back down on Damon's lap, setting the bottle of whiskey down on the table. "Although, who am I to judge?"

Damon bounced a quarter off of the table, having it land in the cup and gave a smirk. "Drink up, brother," he said, holding the woman's arm out in front of him.

* * *

Drinking from the blonde, I began to feel full but that wasn't going to stop me from finishing her off. I had been starved and I needed to make up for lost time.

"Ease up. Ease up," Damon said pulling me away from her, not a moment later. "She's giving us her employee discount."

Wiping the blood from my lips, I watched as he tied a bandana around her throat to cover up her bite mark.

"Now just rung along," Damon commanded, watching the girl leave.

Turning to me, Damon gave me a non-amused look while I just shrugged and smiled back. Spinning around on his heel, Damon ordered two more shots while walking over to the bar. Following behind him, I leaned on the counter as I waited for the shots to come.

"All right, time to fess up," I told him. "What's the point of the jailbreak?"

"I thought you could use a hug, Stefan," Damon joked.

"Come on, Damon. You know Elena's going to hate you for letting me out, and we both know you care what she thinks."

Picking up one of the shot glasses that the bartender set down in front of us, I tipped it back, enjoying the burn it left behind.

"Maybe I wanted to remind you what freedom was like before Klaus took it from you," Damon snapped.

"As long as Klaus is alive, I do what he says," I shot back.

That's my point, Stefan," he replied. "You've given up. Now, you can sit around and be his little bitch, or you can get mad enough, and you can do something about it."

"Damon," I said, shaking my head. "He can't be killed."

"Maybe I can help with that," a deep voice said from behind me. Damon and I turned to see a man walk into our line of view. "The Salvatore boys, I presume."

I stood up straight, realizing who he was.

"Mikael."

Nodding his head with a smile on his face, Mikael looked between Damon and me, looking us over.

"Has Klaus entered the country?" Mikael asked me, getting straight to the point.

"I can't tell you," I responded, feeling the compulsion hold me back.

"Has he spoken to you since he left?"

"I can't tell you," I repeated.

"All right. Can you tell me the last time you spoke to Niklaus?" Mikael questioned.

Crossing my arms over my chest, I looked square into Mikael's eyes before responding. "I am compelled to do what he says, and he says to keep my damn mouth shut."

"I _really _hope this game of Twenty Questions isn't your secret weapon," Damon said to Mikael.

"You see, Damon," Mikael started, switching his gaze over to my brother. Putting a hand down on his shoulder, Mikael held him in place. "I've been a vampire hunter longer than you've been alive. It's why I found you here. It's why I'm going to find Niklaus."

"Well, Klaus has been running for about a thousand years," Damon said. "So if you think you're going to get a workaround he—"

Damon was silenced by Mikael who jabbed his hand into Damon's chest cavity, making him groan in pain. I was about to tear Mikael off of him, but was cautioned.

"Careful, Stefan. One move, and his heart's gone."

Damon let out a cough of discomfort while the vampire hunter turned to me. "Where is Klaus? Come on. What's the trick question, Stefan?"

I squared my jaw, wanting nothing more than to be rid of this man at the moment.

"One twist, and he's dead," Mikael said, reminding me about Damon's predicament. "Unless you don't care, of course."

"His emotions have been shut off. He can't care," Damon wheezed.

"Really? His link to Klaus is so strong that he would let his own brother die?" he pressed.

Damon looked up at me and I turned my head away from him so I didn't have to see his pain.

"No ideas?" Mikael asked, getting louder. "Hmm? Think, Stefan."

I looked back over at Damon, knowing that I couldn't say anything but Damon had understanding eyes.

"I guess you're right," Mikael said to my brother. "He's a dead end."

I struggled against the compulsion, not wanting my brother to die because of my stupid problem.

"And so are you, Damon."

Mikael started to twist his hand in Damon's chest.

"Wait," I jumped, making Mikael stop. I grabbed his hand and spoke again. "I can bring him back. I can lure Klaus back to Mystic Falls."

Mikael pulled his hand out of Damon's chest without his heart in his hands and Damon dropped to the floor, clutching his chest, trying to regain his breath. Letting out a sigh, Mikael grabbed a rag from behind me and started to clean his hand off.

"And there is our loophole," Mikael sang out. "Just had to rile him up a bit. Get Klaus back to Mystic Falls, and I will gladly drive a stake through his heart. Fail; I'll drive it through yours."

Mikael left, leaving Damon and I to think about what he had said.

* * *

"Well I give you ten points for flair," Damon sneered as we walked to the car so we could head back to Mystic Falls.

"At least now we know where Klaus and Elijah learn their tricks from," I added.

"Don't think you had to wait 'till the last second to have your breakthrough, though," Damon pointed out.

I gave a chuckle and shook my head at my brother's comment.

"I didn't have a _breakthrough,_ Damon."

"Ooh. Ooh, my brother's about to die, and I just had to save his life for the bajillionth time," Damon mocked. "Careful, Stefan. Your humanity's showing."

I stopped, letting Damon walk ahead of me.

"Actually, you know what? You're right, Damon," I said, watching him turn around and face me. "You're right. You reminded me what freedom felt like. And when we kill Klaus, I'll be free." Damon nodded his head. "Free to leave. See, I didn't do this for you, Damon. I did it for myself."

"Sure, Stefan," Damon said, playing along. Turning to leave, I caught his arm and pulled him back. "Why are you doing this, huh? What do you want from me? Why is everybody trying to save me?"

"Because I have to, Stefan," Damon yelled. "Because you're in this mess with Klaus because you saved my life; because I owe you." There was silence for a moment. "And I can't just leave you in a cell to rot."

I nodded my head, pretending that I knew what he felt before I spoke.

"Aww," I quipped with a sadistic smile on my face. "Better be careful, brother. Your humanity's showing."

Not a second later, Damon's fist collided with my jaw, knocking me down on to the pavement. Walking away, Damon left me alone to find my own way back to Mystic Falls.

* * *

I walked into my bedroom and saw Emma sitting down on my bed, gripping the board at the foot of the bed. She was wearing a short black pencil skirt and a beige tank top. A necklace with black stones was hanging off of her neck and she had shoes on her feet, looking like she was about to leave and go somewhere. Emma was slowly rocking back and forth, crying silently, bringing memories of our first night together back into my head. I shook the memories away and looked down at her.

"I saw my mother today," Emma whispered after a minute. I leaned against my door frame and crossed my arms over my chest, waiting for her to continue. "She told me that she had been watching me ever since the night she died." More sobs escaped her mouth and a _very _small part of me felt remorse. "She saw what you did to me. She saw me kill that man to complete the transition. My mother hates me, Stefan."

All her crying and sobbing led me to one conclusion. Emma had turned her emotions back on and she was feeling everything come crashing down on her shoulders. I walked over to her slowly and stood in front of her.

"I tried to reason with her," Emma said looking up at me with her watering hazel eyes. "But she just wouldn't have it. She took my daylight ring and _destroyed _it in front of me. She even tried to _kill _me."

"Emma—" I started, but was cut off by her.

"My own mother tried to _kill _me!" she screamed, lurching forward and wrapping her arms around me. "I'm a monster, Stefan. I shouldn't be here. I never wanted this to happen."

"Emma, she can't kill you," I told her, trying to console the weeping vampire in my arms. Something about hearing her cry, made my stomach churn in defeat.

"You made me this way," Emma yelled, pushing me away from her. "It's your fault that my mom hates me."

"Emma, you know you don't mean that."

"I do, Stefan," Emma yelled. "I do mean it. I hate you so much. How could you do this to me?"

Without waiting for an answer, Emma flitted out of the room. Shaking my head in anger I spun around and raced down the stairs, expecting to see her in the living room but it was empty and the front door was wide open.

* * *

**A/N: Aw! Poor Stefan. He just can't catch a break can he? And he was finally starting to feel something at the end. But what about Emma? She's cracking under all the pressure. I really can't wait for you guys to see what's in store for next chapter. There is one moment that you will SWOON over. It's so sweet and touching and I really think you are going to like it! **

**Thanks for everything guys! All the reviews mean so much to me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I love you all! **


	9. Homecoming

**A/N: Hey guys! It's been a long time since I last updated and I am so sorry for that. But here is the next chapter. (:**

**I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

**Homecoming**

Knocking on the door to the small white house, I patiently waited for the owner of the house to come to the door and open it. A moment later the door was thrown open, revealing a flustered woman. I gave the human a forced smile.

"What are you doing here?" the brown eyed teacher asked me.

"I need a place to stay, Lissa," I said, calling Miss Ford by her first name.

"You already have a place to stay with your other vampire friend," she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I can't stay there right now," I snapped back.

"That's not my problem," the woman answered. "I'm sorry but I'm not letting you come in."

"Let me in," I growled. "I have no daylight ring and I refuse to go back. Let me in Lissa."

"Can't you go somewhere else?" Lissa pressed.

"No one is really fond of me in this town at the moment," I answered her. "You're the only who can stand to look at me. So please, let me in."

Lissa stood at the door, glaring at me for a while before she sighed and tossed her head back.

"Fine," she said through grit teeth. "You can come in."

I stepped through the threshold of the door and turned to face Lissa who shut the door.

"Thanks," I said meekly.

"So what drove you over to my house?" Lissa asked, shuffling past me to go and sit down on her couch. I followed her and sat down on the chair across from her couch and stared at the ground.

"When you found me in the classroom yesterday, you didn't see what happened before," I started, looking up at Lissa who was looking at me silently, waiting for me to continue. I let out a sigh before continuing. "My mother died when I was ten years old. My father and I were never quite the same after. My father got drunk a lot and would lock himself in his room and wallow. I was the one to take care of us, in all reality. All he did was go to work and get the money to make rent and buy food. I cooked, cleaned, and did everything else. I was only ten. I missed my mother dearly but I learned to move on because she wouldn't have wanted that. But my father was so mentally flipped around that he decided to take his life one night. That left me all alone with my grandmother. My grandmother cared for me until I was fifteen and then she kicked me out. I lived alone and threw my life away. I got a job as an escort for men to get money and I lived with a friend who was barely around half of the time. All in all, my life had gone down the drain."

"That must have been really rough," Lissa commented, showing a little bit of sympathy. "But what does that have to do with why you are here?"

"The night you found me at the school, my mother visited me."

"I though you said she was dead," she said in confusion.

"She was," I answered. "But you see, my mother was a witch and she remained on the other side. She told me that she watched me grow up and become what I am. She didn't say that it was all going to be okay or that she was happy to see me. She tried to _kill _me. My own mother. The woman that I looked up to tried to kill me all because of what Stefan did to me. He was the one who forced me to make the transition.  
It's because of him that my mother hated me and attempted to kill me." At this point tears were in my eyes. "She took my daylight ring and destroyed it before she took out Alaric's stakes and started to stab me. She disappeared into thin air a little after she started to attack me, leaving me to fall to the floor unconscious until you found me."

Lissa looked a little shocked.

"When you dropped me off at the Boarding House, Stefan came by soon after and I told him what happened. I blamed him and left the house and came here."

"You can stay here," the brunette said after a sigh. "But just don't overstay your welcome."

I nodded my head, grateful that she was even letting me stay here and get everything off of my chest.

* * *

I sat on a chair in the living room of the Boarding House as I waited for the hybrid to pick up his phone. Our plan to lure Klaus back to Mystic Falls was going smoothly and all we needed now was for Klaus to pick up and come back. On the third ring, Klaus picked up the phone without as much as a greeting.

"Portland is fantastic once you can get over all the whiney music and healthy-looking people," Klaus said over the phone. "It's literally a breeding ground for werewolves."

"You're father's dead," I said cutting to the chase once Klaus stopped talking.

"What did you say to me?" Klaus asked in a disbelieving tone.

"Oh, my mistake. Not your _actual _father, and not dead," I told him. "Mikael. Daggered." I looked over at his body, laying on the floor with gray, dull skin, not moving. "What do you want me to do with the body?" I asked Klaus.

"Well, first I want you to explain to me exactly what happened," Klaus demanded over the phone.

I paused, thinking back to an hour ago when we were working the plan out.

* * *

_"All right," I said walking into the parlor with Damon and Elena behind me. "We'll say that Mikael followed Elena in here. He tried to grab her so he could use her as bait."_

_"And you what?" Elena asked, making me turn to face her with my arms crossed over my chest. Just because I was working with Damon and Elena didn't mean that I had to like it and I was certainly tired of all of Elena's looks of anger and frustration. "You vervained him?"_

_"No," Damon said from behind her. "_We _vervained him. The guy's an Original. Make it realistic."_

_"Okay, fine," I said, rolling my eyes at the two. "We vervained him. And in the process discovered that he had a dagger."_

_"Which he planned to use on Rebekah. But instead—" I cut Elena off, finishing the sentence. _

_"We drove it through his heart."_

_"And what happens when he asks to see Mikael's body?" Elena asked, looking at me with an expression of challenge while crossing her arms over her chest. _

_"Good point," Damon said, taking Elena's side. You, my brother, have been compelled to do what Klaus says. So if the idea is to lure him back here and kill him, the last thing we need is you getting tripped up and tongue tied." Damon paused and looked around the room before back at me. "Speaking of Klaus, where's the other vampire chick?"_

_"Well don't look at me," I said, ignoring his last question. "I'm just in charge of getting him back here."_

_"Klaus is smart," Elena pointed out. "If we tell him that Mikael's dead, he'll want proof."_

_"Then I shall be dead," Mikael said, from behind the three of us, making us all turn to face him and see what he was talking about. He placed the glass container of white oak ash and a dagger down on the table that was stationed behind one of the couches. Elena, Damon, and I walked over to him to see the items ourselves._

_"What if he wants to see you in person?" Elena asked the Original vampire. _

_"Well it means our plan is working," Mikael responded. "Klaus will absolutely want to see my body. You lure him here, and I will kill him."_

_"With what?" I asked, poking holes in his plan. "Those daggers won't work on him."_

_"Well, I'm in possession of a stake fashioned from the wood of the ancient white oak tree. The one that left these ashes when it burned." Mikael looked down at the container of ash and picked it up, pulling the cork out of the top. _

_"Where is it?" Damon asked, referring to the stake. _

_"Not here," the older vampire answered, earning an eye roll from Damon. "Knowing its location is my insurance policy."_

_"Against what?" I asked._

_"You leaving this in my heart," Mikael responded, looking at me with daggers from his eyes. "You see a vampire can't dagger an Original without dying. So," Mikael said, turning to look at Elena. He extended the dagger to her and held it out. "It falls to you."_

_"You want me to actually dagger you?" Elena asked the vampire hunter, taking the dagger from his hand slowly. _

_"Klaus will leave nothing to chance," Mikael paused, still looking down at Elena. "Especially when it comes to trust."_

_Elena nodded her head and took a deep breath before looking up at Mikael once more. _

_"I'm sorry," she said before plunging the dagger into his chest, letting him drop to the floor and immobilize. _

* * *

"I want to see him," Klaus said into the phone, clearly seething. "I want to see his rotting body for myself."

"Well, he's here," I responded. I got up from the chair and walked over so I was standing above his body. "Come by whenever."

"If you're lying to me, Stefan, your compulsion will expose you so answer with your life. Is what you're saying the truth?"

"It's true," I responded, not feeling any guilt or discomfort since I was telling the truth. "I saw it with my own eyes."

"I want to talk with Emma," Klaus responded.

I cringed a little, thinking of the female vampire who had been gone for a day. She hadn't shown her face to me or Damon. Elena had told me that she saw her watching her twice one night due to the orders from Klaus and lack of a daylight ring. . I didn't know where she was or what she was doing.

"There's a slight problem," I told the hybrid.

"What do you mean 'slight problem'?" Klaus asked, anger dripping from his voice.

"Emma left yesterday and I don't know where she's been. The only person who has seen her is Elena."

"Well _find _her," Klaus hissed. "In the meantime I'll be heading back."

With that being said, Klaus hung up the phone and I slipped my phone into my back pocket before turning to Elena and Damon who were watching me.

"I'll be back later," I said to them before turning on my heel and walking out.

"Where are you going?" Elena asked.

I ignored her however and exited the house, heading towards my destination.

* * *

Standing on the porch with my hands on my hips, I waited for the witch to answer her door. Inside the house, I could hear footsteps coming towards the door and a moment later, the door opened revealing Bonnie Bennett.

"Stefan," Bonnie said, shaking her head at me. "What do you want?"

"Nice to see you too, Bonnie," I greeted her with a small smirk on my face.

The brunette haired girl crossed her arms over her chest and squared her jaw. It was clear that she wasn't thrilled with me at the moment, but I could care less at the moment. I came her for one reason and one reason only.

"What do you want?" Bonnie asked again.

"I need something from you," I told her.

"And why should I help you?" she retorted. "All you have done is make Elena upset."

"I left with Klaus to make sure my brother survived his werewolf bite. And I'm pretty sure that Damon kept Elena company over the summer so she couldn't have been that upset," I replied.

Bonnie glared at me.

"If you want Klaus gone, you'll help me with this," I told her, sparking her interest.

She thought about it for a moment.

"Fine," she said. "I'll help you. But _only _for Elena's sake."

"Works for me," I responded before following Bonnie into her house, shutting the door behind me.

* * *

_"Well, I am formulating a secret contingency plan."_

_"Really? What is it?"_

_"Well, if I told you, then it won't be a secret."_

Deciding that now was a good time to jump into the conversation, I turned around the corner of the doorway and looked into Damon's bathroom where I saw Elena looking at me.

"I need to borrow a tie," I told Damon, ignoring the glances I got from Elena.

"You have your own ties," Damon said, not even bothering to look up at me.

I leaned against the frame of the opening to the bathroom and crossed my arms over my chest.

"I'm one hundred and sixty-two years old and I'm going to a homecoming dance. I need better ties," I stated.

"You could not go," Elena said to me, trying to get under my skin.

"I'm compelled to protect you," I told the doppelgänger. "And if I look at your track record at high school dances, it's pretty tragic." Elena did not look the slightest bit happy. "My luck you'll go ahead and get yourself murdered by the homecoming queen."

"Emma was compelled to watch me as well but you don't see her wondering around here worrying about homecoming."

Narrowing my eyes at her, I pushed myself off of the wood frame and walked away to go look in Damon's closet for a tie to wear. I tuned out when I started to hear the two bicker and chose two ties. I walked back to the bathroom to see which one I liked better in the light.

"Please tell me that you have a better plan than wolfsbane grenades," I complained to my older brother who was busy tightening the pin on the grenade.

"Never you mind, brother," Damon replied. "The less you know, the better."

"My freedom from Klaus rests entirely upon you two executing your plan perfectly," I said, holding up one of the ties to my neck, examining the color. "So, excuse me if I'm a bit cynical."

"You're the one that we should be worried about," Elena said as I started to exit the bathroom. I turned back around to face her, wanting to hear her explanation for this. "If Klaus asks you one wrong question, the whole thing falls apart."

"You do have reason to worry," I acknowledged. "But if I look back at our history of epic plan failures, it's usually because one of us let our humanity get in the way." Elena looked away and rolled her eyes at me. I just let her, ignoring her completely. "So if I'm taking odds on how this thing goes down, it's certainly not going to be me who screws it up. Plus we don't know what Emma's going to do. She isn't here so we can't run the plan by her," I added, making both Damon and Elena tense up, remembering that there was another key player missing here. "I'll see you at homecoming. I can't wait."

Leaving them with that, I exited Damon's bedroom with both ties in hand so that I could go get dressed for the dance and try to find Emma before it started.

* * *

Looking in the bathroom mirror at her reflection, I looked at my dress and smoothed over the dress's black skirt. There were gold studs and a zipper on the front of the dress and I was pleased with my reflection. I decided to work on my make-up to pass the time. I grabbed the cosmetic bag from under the bathroom sink before talking to Lissa through the door.

"What's your plan for killing Klaus?" I asked her.

"Well, we all know that Klaus is bound to come back to Mystic Falls at one point or another and when he does, I'm going to kill him with little white oak stake that I happen to possess," Lissa responded.

"That sounds lovely and all but I hope you know that there are two flaws in your plan," I informed her while applying some eye shadow to my eyelids. "One: Klaus is part werewolf, so the stake won't be enough to kill him. And two: it's not going to be that easy to kill him. I've told you before. Klaus knows everything that's going to happen."

"That's where you come in."

"I'm a part of your plan?" I asked the teacher.

"Of course. Klaus has a hold on you so why not use that to our advantage. He believes you," Lissa said.

"Klaus doesn't believe anyone, Lissa," I told her, finishing up the light layer of make-up. "The hybrid knows a thing or two about staying alive and not trusting people is one thing he is good at."

I opened up the door and walked out of the bathroom seeing Lissa sitting on her bed in an off white dress that complimented her light olive skin tone. She had half of her hair pulled up in a clip at the back of her head and she had Christian Louboutins on her feet. She looked really pretty. Lissa was attending the dance as one of the teacher chaperones.

"But you can at least lure him back to Mystic Falls," Lissa responded.

Hearing my phone buzz from on top of the dresser in the guest room, I walked over to the phone and unlocked it, reading the text message.

"I don't think we are going to have to worry about luring Klaus back," I said, looking over at Lissa who had a confused expression on her face. "Klaus just sent me a text telling me that he is coming back to town tonight."

* * *

Wandering through the swarms of people I looked at everyone, searching for Emma, seeing as I hadn't found her yet. I needed to give her something and make sure that she knew about the plan so that she wouldn't mess it up.

I walked around the Lockwood's backyard, continuing to look for the female vampire. The dance had been moved to Tyler's house since the school gym flooded and there was no place to go. I was surprised to see that Tyler had a band playing already and about a thousand and counting people attending the dance already. I didn't recognize half of the people, but I really didn't care.

"Hey, Stefan," Tyler said, coming up from behind me with a case of beer in his arms. "What's up?"

"Hey, Tyler," I responded. "Nice party you got going on here."

"Thanks, but I'm not the one throwing it," Tyler shrugged. "I'm just doing what Klaus wants."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"It's not a party, man. It's a wake."

I looked at Tyler, trying to process what he had said as everything clicked into place. The gym didn't flood on accident, Klaus wanted it to be flooded so that the party would have been moved here and he could make an entrance.

As the band finished its song, the crowd cheered and a familiar voice came from the microphone.

"Good evening everyone!" The crowd continued to cheer and Klaus just smiled, looking around at all the people. "I want to thank you all for being here with me to celebrate. It's been a long time coming." With a smirk, Klaus exited the stage as everyone cheered and the band started up again. Tyler turned away and walked up towards the house, giving out beers as he walked away. I watched as the hybrid made his way through the crowd over to me.

"Quite the homecoming," I commented once he reached me.

"I've been planning my father's funeral for one thousand years," Klaus said in his accent with a coy smile on his face. "Granted, in no version of it were any of these people invited. But you get the idea."

"So what now?" I asked him as we walked through the crowds of people. "You stop running?"

"Now I reunite my family," Klaus said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Your family. You mean, the people you cart around in caskets?" I asked him, quizzically.

"None of that matters anymore," Klaus responded quickly. "Mikael's gone. Bygones will be bygones."

There was a pause between us in which the Homecoming Queen walked by us and complimented Klaus on his party.

"Seems the Homecoming Queen still walks among the living, which leads me to believe Rebekah isn't here. Where is she?" Klaus asked.

"I have no idea. I though she was coming with Matt," I answered him.

"Oh, be honest now, Stefan. Where's my sister?"

"I _said _I have no idea," I spat. "Now would you like me to take you to your father?"

"Well, it wouldn't be a party without the guest of honor, would it? Bring him to me."

Nodding my eyes, I accepted his demand. "Alright. Perhaps there's something in it for me. My freedom from your compulsion," I told Klaus.

"Oh, you want your freedom?" Klaus asked. "Well, once he's dead and his weapon is destroyed, you'll have your freedom and so will Emma. Speaking of which, have you found her?"

I shook my head at the hybrid. "She's here somewhere. Good luck finding her." I walked away from the hybrid to go retrieve his father and get my freedom back.

* * *

Reaching the Boarding House, I heard Mikael and Damon talking and I raced in, ready to tell them the news.

"Change in plans," I said, capturing the attention of Damon and Mikael. "Klaus is back. He's at the Lockwoods'. And he wants your body delivered to his doorstep," I said to Mikael who remained reserved and calm.

"I'm afraid he's in for a colossal disappointment," Mikael commented, shaking his head slightly.

"Well, he's certainly not going to come here," I responded. "I hope your plan didn't depend on that."

"Didn't depend on that," Damon answered.

"But you do have a plan. Right?" I pressed, needing to know that everything was going to go smoothly.

"Oh, yeah," Damon said after taking in a sip of his glass that contained blood. "We got a plan, right?" he asked Mikael in a teasing manner. "It just doesn't involve _you_."

Before I could process what that meant, Mikael lunged at me and bit into my neck, draining blood from my body, making me go light headed. I tried to push him off of me, but he had an iron like grip and he wouldn't let go. Black dots started to cloud my vision and I couldn't focus on anything.

Mikael finally let go of me, letting me drop to the floor and hit my head, making everything become dark and silent.

* * *

"There you are love," a familiar voice cooed into my ear as I stopped in the middle of the foyer where some teenagers were playing beer pong.

"Klaus," I responded, stiffing a little bit.

Klaus stepped out from around me and stood in front of me, holding his hands in front of his body with a slight smile on his face.

"What's this I heard about you leaving Stefan?" Klaus asked, dropping the smile on his face quickly. "I thought I told you to help him watch Elena."

"I have been watching the doppelgänger like you said. Just not with Stefan," I said.

"And why is that, Emma?" Klaus pressed. "A lovers' quarrel?"

"You know that that isn't true, Klaus," I spat at him. "Any chance of happiness that I ever had with him was ripped away from me by you all those decades ago."

"It's not healthy to hold a grudge, darling," Klaus teased, picking up one of the ping pong balls that was floating in a cup of beer.

"You have a visitor," a hybrid said, walking up to the two of us.

"Well, tell my visitor I'm on the brink of victory here," Klaus said to the girl while smirking down at me. I rolled my eyes and looked away from the Original.

"He said his name was Mikael," she added, capturing the attention of the both of us. Klaus looked down at the table while I stared with wide eyes at the female hybrid. Klaus tossed the ball into a cup of beer and looked up at the hybrid with a stone cold expression.

"Then we mustn't keep him waiting. Move everyone out back," he demanded. "We're going to have a little chat with my dad." Klaus grabbed a hold of my arm and started to tow me out of the room with him. "Tony, you know what to do."

Klaus walked over to the front door with me and we stood in front of the threshold, face to face with Mikael himself.

"Hello, Niklaus," he greeted the hybrid. "And this must be Emma. I've heard a lot about you."

I furrowed my eyebrow in confusion, but kept quiet, not wanting any part of this conversation that was bound to end in murder.

"Mikael," Klaus sneered. "Won't you come in? Oh, that's right. I forgot. You can't."

"Or you can come outside if you want," Mikael offered, looking between the two of us.

"Or I could watch my hybrids tear you limb from limb," Klaus threatened, tightening his grip on my arm in frustration. I looked behind Mikael and saw at least a dozen hybrids spread out on the Lockwoods' front law, looking like they were ready to kill.

"They can't kill me," Mikael scoffed.

"True," Klaus noted. "But it'll make a hell of a party game. All I have to do is rub these two fingers together, and they'll pounce."

"The _big, bad _wolf," Mikael hissed. "You haven't changed. Still hiding behind your playthings like a coward. You only forget. They may be sired by you, but they're still part vampire," Mikael pointed out. "And they can be compelled by me."

The female hybrid from before walked out and stood by Mikael's side. I gasped in surprise and Klaus's jaw dropped in the slightest at his father's actions. Yanking a person into view, I saw Elena struggling against Mikael's grip. I let out a growl and felt the compulsion taking over. I had to protect her no matter what and I was about ready to lunge forward at the Original when Klaus pulled me back.

"Come out and face me, Niklaus, or she dies," Mikael demanded.

I let out another growl and a hiss, trying to break through Klaus's grasp to retrieve the doppelgänger.

"Go ahead," Klaus whispered. "Kill her."

I froze in astonishment. Klaus had made sure that she was well protected and now he was just going to give her up like that?

"No, Klaus," Elena begged, looking like she was ready to cry. "He'll do it."

"If she dies, this lot will be the last of your abominations," Mikael informed us.

"I don't need them," Klaus spat. "I just need to be rid of you."

"To what end, Niklaus?" Mikael questioned. "So you can live forever with no one at your side?" Klaus had been silenced and his grip on my arm remained tight. "Nobody cares about you anymore, boy! Who do you have other than those whose loyalty you've forced? I'm pretty sure, Emma, here would love to be rid of you and never have to see you again."

Klaus's eyes started to water and in that instant, I felt bad for the hybrid. All he wanted was friends but he came on too strong and scared everybody away. That is the reason that forced him to be the way he is. And this whole problem probably all started with his father. I placed a hand hesitantly on his upper arm, trying to calm him as much as I could. It was never good when Klaus was upset.

"I'm calling your bluff, father," Klaus said after a moment. "Kill her."

"Come outside and face me, you little coward," Mikael retorted. "And I won't have to."

"My whole life you've underestimated me," Klaus started. "If you kill her, you lose your leverage. So go ahead. Go on. Kill her. Come on, old man. Kill her. Kill her!"

Mikael started to chuckle.

"You're impulse, Niklaus. It has and will forever be the one thing that keeps you from truly being great."

At this point, a tear fell out of Klaus's eye and trailed down his cheek. My heart stopped as I witnessed the most inhumane person on the face of the Earth cry in front of me. It made my heart cripple in the slightest and I felt nothing but rage towards the Original, Mikael.

Hearing a knife cut through flesh and meet bone, I looked up to see Elena gasping in pain. Klaus and I let out a gasp as well and I felt like my head was about to explode. My compulsion was eating me from the inside out because I had failed. I hadn't been able to keep her safe and I felt the weight of the world come crashing down. I couldn't breathe as I watched her body fall to the ground.

I let out an agonizing scream, feeling as though my lungs were collapsing inside my chest. I dropped to my knees and clutched my chest, trying to stop the pain.

Mikael chuckled and Klaus looked down at me before Damon flitted over from out of sight and plunged a stake into Klaus's side, making him scream out in pain. I watched in terror as Damon shoved him down on to the ground and held the stake in his side. Klaus continued to scream as did I.

"Katherine," I heard Mikael mutter, making me look up at the doorway to see Elena standing up. Only now I knew that it wasn't Elena and that it was Katherine. The pain shooting through my body stopped all at once.

"Ka-boom," she said deviously before pulling the pins on the grenades in her hands. She threw the grenades at the hybrids and they exploded, showering them with wolfsbane.

I looked over at Klaus and Damon just in time to see Stefan – who also came out of nowhere – push his brother off of Klaus as he was about to stake Klaus in the heart. Klaus jumped up and Stefan held his brother down, struggling to hold him down.

"What are you doing?" Damon yelled.

Stefan didn't answer him, instead he looked at me and kept his brother down on the floor. My eyes locked with his and I couldn't move. It was like I was frozen. His green eyes pierced mine. I felt guilt wash over me.

Hearing a blood curdling scream, I tore my eyes away from Stefan's and looked over to the front door where I saw Mikael's body being eaten by flames and Klaus standing above him. His body soon turned to ash and Klaus turned back towards us.

"What the hell did you do?" Damon shouted at Stefan, pulling my attention back to them. Stefan didn't answer; but Klaus did.

"He earned his freedom."

Stefan let go of his brother and slowly rose, looking at Klaus with a look of relief on his face. The two looked at each other for a while before Klaus spoke up.

"Thank you, my friend," he said in a soft tone. "You no longer have to do what I say. You're free."

Stefan took a deep breath and slowly backed away from the hybrid. His shoulders slouched, freeing him of his tense manor from before. Klaus had a small smile on his face and he looked down at me.

"You're free as well, Emma," he said with his pupils contracting, freeing me of his compulsion. The air around me shifted from hostile back to normal and I felt an immense weight lifting off of my shoulders. A smile graced my face and I felt normal again.

I looked over at the older Salvatore only to see him shake with anger. He looked over at me and his ice blue eyes narrowed and his lips were in a straight line. Without warning, Damon lunged for me and took my neck in his hands. Not giving it a second though, he twisted my neck, making the world turn pitch black in an instant.

* * *

After Katherine had dropped me off at the edge of Mystic Falls with Emma's limp body, I sat on a bench that was on the side of the road with her head in my lap, waiting for her to wake up. I thought back to the conversation that I had with Katherine in the car. She warned me about my emotions creeping back on and I had told her that I didn't want to feel all the horrible things I was bound to feel. I didn't want to feel all the guilt of killing innocent bodies. I didn't want to feel the remorse for hurting people. I didn't want to feel the sorrow. I just didn't want to feel anything.

But looking down at Emma, I found myself realizing that without even trying, the vampire had managed to find a hole in my emotions and she was slowly prying it open. I knew that when I was with her I didn't feel at all that bad. Sure there was still guilt, but it wasn't anything that I couldn't manage.

Not a second later, Emma shot up, taking a deep breath. She started to pant and looked around, confused until she looked back and saw me sitting behind her. Emma stiffened and she stared at me for a long time.

"I know I'm probably the last person that you want to see right now," I told her, looking down at my lap. Emma remained quiet and she adjusted herself in her seat. "I don't blame you. But I wanted to try and make it up to you; or at least try."

Slipping my hand into my leather jacket's pocket, I wrapped my fingers around the ring before slowly pulling it out. I looked up at Emma and saw her looking at my hand in curiosity. I opened my hand and revealed the lapis lazuli ring that was charmed and would protect her from the sunlight.

"I had Bonnie make this for you because your mother destroyed yours out of anger of what you are. And the only reason she was angry was because _I _made you what you are today."

Emma reached out and took the ring from my hand, slowly slipping it on her left, middle finger. She looked down at the ring and I watched her with curious eyes. She brushed her fingers over the two crescent moons on each side of the stone and adjusted it on her finger before looking up at me.

"Thank you," she said, with a half-smile on her face.

I returned the gesture.

"I'm not going to say that I'm sorry for blaming you for my mother hating me," Emma stated after a moment. I looked up at her and saw her looking down at me with misty eyes. "But I'm not going to blame all of it on you. Half of it is my fault. I shouldn't have let you do that to me. I should have left the bar when I first saw you that night. I should have ran for the hills! But I stayed, wanting to play cat and mouse with you."

I listened to her as she continued.

"I wanted to play the game with you and I'm not sorry for instigating the situation because it led to the best thing that happened to me in a long time. I met you and you took all my worries away, Stefan."

She blinked a few times, pushing the tears away.

"But that all changed when Klaus came and took you away from me," she muttered.

I remained silent, not knowing exactly how to respond to her.

"I just wonder what life would have been like if we hadn't been split."

I nodded my head, finally finding what I wanted to voice.

"Me too."

* * *

"Stefan. Miss me already?" Klaus greeted as he picked dup the phone.

"I'm just calling to thank you for my freedom," I answered.

"I like to believe that I'm a man of my word. More or less."

"The thing is, it came at too high of a price," I responded, looking around at the four coffins that were in the foyer of the old witch house in the middle of the woods. "You took everything from me, Klaus."

"Let bygones be bygones," Klaus replied. "Trust me, resentment gets old."

"You know what never gets old?" I asked the hybrid. I paused and then continued when I heard the sound of a door sliding open. "Revenge."

"No," Klaus spat into the phone.

"What's the matter, Klaus?" I asked with a wicked smile forming on my face. "Missing something?"

"What are you doing?"

"I'm just enjoying my freedom," I answered.

"Emma is in on this as well, I suppose," Klaus sneered. I looked over at the hazel eyed girl who was sitting on top of one of the coffins, examining her new daylight ring with a small smile on her face. "I will kill you and everyone you've both ever met."

"You do that and you'll never see your family again," I threatened. "I wonder, Klaus. As someone who's been one step ahead for one thousand years. Were you prepared for this?"

* * *

**A/N: How did you like that chapter? I think it was pretty good but I would love to hear what you think. Sorry for not updating in such a long time. I have been ****_really _****busy with school and all. **

**In the next chapter, you'll get to know Lissa and Damon a little better. I can't wait for you to read it!**

**Thanks for reading!**


	10. The New Deal

**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry that I haven't updated in a while... I've been busy with school work and what not so I have been entertained with other matters. **

**Here is a new chapter just for you guys!**

**Oh! And the new cover for the story was made by **KatherineSalvatore1918**. **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**The New Deal**

_Sitting in the dingy little bar on the end of Main Street, Stefan and I were sitting all alone, looking out over the crowd of people, picking the next victim. Personally, I didn't want to be at the bar. I wasn't even hungry; I just wanted to go back to Stefan's apartment. But he was hungry and from experience I can honestly say that you don't want to piss him off when he is hungry._

_The monster beside me got up and walked over to a woman who looked to be about my height. Sitting down next to her, Stefan took her extended hand and started to kiss down her arm. There was a tiny feeling in the pit of my stomach but I pushed it away and focused on my drink instead of the pair. In fact, I looked around the entire place, avoiding everywhere but where they were just so I wouldn't get that feeling in the pit of my stomach. People all around the bar were laughing and having a good time while I was just sitting her, sulking. _

_Not being able to help myself, I looked back over at Stefan and the girl. My eyes landed on the girl and I looked over her profile. The woman had long, blonde hair that was slightly curled and reached the middle of her back. She also had fairly high cheek bones that stretched the skin on her face a little. Her eyes were brown and she had full lips. The dress that she had on was very short and stopped at her mid-thigh, revealing the edge of her stockings. _

_As I looked over the girl further, I noticed that she looked almost exactly like me. I know that I shouldn't feel jealous but I couldn't help myself. That small feeling in the pit of my stomach grew ten times larger and I was blinded by anger. _

_Rising up from the stool that I was sitting on, I slammed my drink down on the bar, cracking the bottom of the glass and walked over to Stefan and the girl. As I made my way towards them, I knew that Stefan could sense me coming but he didn't look up at me. The girl however looked up at me and gave me a smirk. I narrowed my eyes at her and placed my hands on my hips when I reached the table. _

_I cleared my throat and glared down at Stefan, causing him to look up at me. _

_"Emma," Stefan warned. _

_"It's time to go," I said with venom dripping from my voice. I looked over at the woman to see that the smirk on her face was gone and a fresh look of fear was residing in her features. _

_"But I'm just getting started," Stefan said, turning to face the woman who was nervously bobbing her leg up and down. _

_"I don't care," I spat, slamming my hands down on the table. I couldn't control my anger anymore and all I wanted to do was rip into that woman's neck. I leaned forward and looked at the girl straight in the eye before compelling her. "Get up and leave. All you remember is whoring around with a married man who left you not five minutes after you started talking."_

_The woman recited what I said to her and got up from her seat, leaving Stefan and I alone. The hungry vampire looked up at me with a glare. Still enraged with him, I spun on my heel and walked away from him, leaving the bar. I didn't want to be in there anymore and I wanted to go back to the apartment. The second that I stepped outside, I was pushed against the wall only to be face to face with Stefan. _

_"What was that back there?" Stefan asked, hissing at me._

_"I wanted to leave," I responded, avoiding the real reason. _

_"I don't think that's the real reason," Stefan spat. "So why don't you tell me?"_

_"You were about to feed off of a girl who looked _exactly _like me and I didn't like it, okay?" I yelled, pushing him off of me. _

_"I'm sensing some jealousy," Stefan teased. _

_"As if," I retorted, shoving past him. I didn't far before I felt him pull me back._

_"Jealousy looks good on you," Stefan teased. I was in no mood to do any of this at the moment. I was still frustrated with him. _

_"I don't want to do this right now, Stefan," I told him, looking down at my feet; I was too afraid to look into his eyes._

_"Fine," he huffed, letting me go. I kept my head bowed and walked away from Stefan, heading back to the apartment. _

* * *

Watching the Bennett witch look around the room in confusion, I decided that now was a good time to come out of hiding and talk to her.

"Hello, Bonnie," I said, breaking the silence. The witch's heart skipped a beat and she turned to face me quickly.

"Stefan," she breathed out, trying to regain her heart's normal pace. "You followed me here?"

"Yeah," I answered quickly. "It wasn't too hard."

"You should probably be more careful," a familiar female voice said from the door frame. I looked to the side and saw Emma leaning against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest. She was wearing a leather jacket and a red shirt that drew attention up to her face.

"What are you doing here?" I asked the female vampire.

"If I'm going to be a part of this plan, I need to know what you're up to," she responded, pushing herself off of the wall. "And don't think that I'm going to let you take down Klaus all by yourself."

I rolled my eyes and turned back to Bonnie who was looking at us in confusion.

"This is Emma," I said to Bonnie. "She is going to help us take down Klaus."

"So what do you want with me?" Bonnie asked.

"Relax, we just need your help," Emma said, walking towards the teenager.

"Why would I help you?" she asked, looking between me and Emma. "Elena said the two of you saved Klaus' life."

"Let me fill you in on a little secret about Klaus," I started. "He kept his family with him at all times. Daggered, stored in coffins. And now I have them, and I need you to help keep them hidden."

"Are you out of your mind? You're going to make him angrier," Bonnie said.

"His family is his one weakness," Emma cut in. "As long as we have that, we can ruin him."

"I don't have enough power to hide _four _Originals," Bonnie protested.

"You're a witch," I stated, taking over. "You hate Klaus. I know you can figure something out."

Bonnie turned around to look at the coffins while I walked over to Emma who was now walking around the room, picking up knick-knacks that she found.

"Where were you?" I asked her.

"What do you mean?" Emma asked, slowly getting under my skin.

"You just left after I got off the phone with Klaus the other day," I said. "Where did you go?"

"Oh, you know… here, there," she teased.

I grabbed her upper arm and turned her around to face me. "I'm not playing games, Emma."

"There's nothing to worry about," she reassured me. "I just went back to the place that I was staying at."

"I can hide the coffins," Bonnie informed us, making me let go of Emma.

* * *

"Stefan?"

The sound of Elena's voice made me groan. I knew that she was here to fight about something and/or convince me to come back. I didn't want to fight or talk to her at the moment. I just wanted to kill Klaus and then leave this town.

"Go away," I said to the doppelgänger who turned around to face me. "You shouldn't be here, Elena."

"Stefan, I need your help," she begged. "Bonnie said that you would be here."

"Well, Bonnie _sucks_ at keeping secrets," I said.

"Listen, you need to give Klaus his family back," Elena tried to reason with me.

"Oh, really? Is that what I _need _to do?"

"Klaus compelled Jeremy to stand in front of a speeding car."

I just stood there, looking at her bored.

"Don't you get it?" Elena cried out at me. "Stefan, he's not going to stop until he gets what he wants."

"Elena," I sighed out. "Stop taking. I'm not giving Klaus anything."

"Are you listening to me?" Elena gasped, causing me to roll my eyes. "He's going to _kill _Jeremy."

"Not really my problem."

Elena's face twisted into a look of anger and resentment. She lifted her hand up to slap me and I made no attempt to stop her. Elena's hand started to fly down towards my face but I saw the familiar form of Emma flit in front of me and take the slap for me. As she turned her head back to Elena, I could tell without seeing her face that there was a look of anger.

"I suggest that you leave," Emma shouted. "Now."

Elena narrowed her eyes at the vampire and stormed out of the room, leaving Emma and I alone. Emma turned around to face me and gave me a smirk.

"You're girlfriend punches like a twelve year old girl," she laughed.

"She's not my girlfriend," I told her. "At least not anymore."

"Could've fooled me," Emma shrugged, taking a seat on a wooden chair near the door.

Hearing flitting, I turned around to see my brother dive into the room and hide in the shade of the room. I could tell that the witches weren't really happy with him at the moment. Then again, when were they happy with him?

"Wow," I heard Emma say from behind me.

"That was impressive," I commented. "But the coffins aren't here, so… You can go away now."

"I don't care about the coffins," Damon answered. "We need to talk. Brother to brother. Which means that you can leave, princess bitch." Damon pushed himself up from the floor and stood in the sun light, letting out a scream of pain before he rushed over to the shaded area of the room. "Ow!"

"Okay," I said, ignoring Emma who was seething in her seat. "Let's talk."

"Nothing's ever easy with you, is it?" Damon spat at me before he rushed up to me and hauled me out of the house quickly.

I wrestled with my brother, trying to push him off of me but he was still a little stronger than me. As he pushed me down to the ground outside of the house, I saw Emma rush up behind him and turn him around, punching him square in the jaw.

Damon let out a growl and took her jaw in his hand, ready to snap her neck. Emma realized what he was going to do and gripped his hand, trying to pull it off of her neck but she failed, seeing as though Damon snapped her neck and she fell to the ground unconscious.

I groaned, knowing that she was going to be pissed when she woke up.

Damon whirled around and broke off a branch from a tree and lodged the wooden tip into my stomach. I let out a shout of pain.

"That is for screwing up my plan," Damon shouted over my screams. "You stopped me from killing Klaus and you steal his family. _Why_? It doesn't make sense."

I let out another scream of pain as he moved the stick around in my stomach.

"Answer me!" Damon demanded.

"Piece by piece, Klaus too everything from me," I said over the pain. "I'm doing the same to him."

"But I had him, Stefan!" Damon screamed, jabbing the stake into me again, causing another scream to erupt from my chest. "Why'd you screw it up?"

"I did it to save you," I told Damon, pushing the pain aside. I channeled enough strength to push him off of me and sat up straight as he shot forward.

"What?"

I pulled the stake out of my abdomen and threw it to the side.

"No. No way," Damon denied. "You didn't do this for me."

"He was one step ahead of us," I grunted, feeling my wound heal slowly. "If Klaus died, his hybrids would have _killed_ you."

"When are you going to get it through your head?" Damon shouted, picking the stake back up in his hand before slamming it into my upper chest. "Stop saving me."

With that, Damon got up and walked away, leaving me to pull out the stake from my chest and an unconscious Emma to deal with.

* * *

With a gasp, Emma shot up from the ground and clutched her head in her hands, letting out a string of cuss words.

"That brother of yours is a piece of shit," Emma said, knowing that I was standing in front of her. "Doesn't he have something better to do than snap my neck when he gets mad?"

I remained silent, not wanting to say anything. Noticing my silence, Emma looked up at me and shook her head.

"You know what? I always get hurt trying to help or protect you," she said. "And then all you do is stand there and do nothing. If I was still with Klaus this would have never happened."

"If you were with Klaus, you would have still been held captive," I snapped.

"At least I would have been safe from all the danger that follows you," Emma fired back, as she pushed herself off of the ground. "The next time that you need help, don't come to me. And the second after we kill Klaus, don't expect me to hang around you like a lost puppy."

She flitted away and I remained still, looking out into the forest. Not a minute after she left, Damon's figure appeared at the edge of the forest.

"You know what I can't figure out?" I heard his voice call from the edge of the trees. "Why save me? Is it brotherly love? Guilty conscience? Is the switch on, is the switch off?"

"You have somewhere you need to be, Damon?" I asked him, not particularly wanting to talk to anyone at the moment.

"Oh, deflection," he stated. "Not going to work on me, I _invented _that."

"We're done," I said, rolling my eyes and turning to go back into the house. "Can't you just go away?"

"Not until you tell me why you saved me. You owe me that."

"I don't _owe _you anything," I responded, turning to face my brother.

"Fine," Damon shrugged. "Next question: Why'd you steal the coffins?"

"Because Klaus' family is the one weakness I can use against him."

"To do what?" Damon pressed. "You're not going to kill him. Know how I know? Because there was only one way to kill him and you blew that to save me."

I walked towards my brother, shaking my head at him.

"You're wrong, Damon," I said. "Klaus doesn't get to just _live _forever. There's another way. There has to be."

"Fair enough," Damon said, cocking his head to the side. "Whatever you're doing, I want in."

I shook my head and turned back around to walk towards the house.

"I don't need your help."

"Last time I checked, you were hiding out in a haunted house."

"I'm in this _alone, _Damon," I told him, turning around to look at him once more.

"You go after Klaus, you have to be cutthroat and devious," Damon noted. "I'm so much better at that than you." I started at him in annoyance. Damon continued on, walking towards me. "Come on, brother. What do you say? If you're going to keep saving my life, at least make if for a good reason."

When we were face to face, I nodded my head slowly.

"You want in, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Okay," I said. "But it's just me and you. Elena, Jeremy, and everyone but Bonnie stays out of it."

"What about your little vampire, Emma?" Damon asked.

"I'll handle her," I responded. "You just need to stop snapping her neck or else she'll do something about it."

"Deal."

"Follow me," I told him.

Turning around, I walked up towards the house and heard Damon from behind me.

"Well, I'm not so welcome in there," he said.

"Don't you worry, Damon. We all want the same thing."

My brother followed me throughout the house until we came back to the room where we were fighting in before.

"Have a look," I told him, motioning to the whole room.

"What?" he asked. "Klaus is allergic to dust?"

I chuckled at my brother's wit and shook my head. I started at my brother's icy blue eyes for a second before turning to the room again.

"Look again."

I watched as Damon turned his head and saw the coffins revealed to him.

"The witch spirits hate Klaus as much as we do," I stated. "They're using their powers to hide the coffins."

"So even if he comes in the house—"

I cut Damon off. "He won't be able to find them."

* * *

As I walked into the Lissa's house after spending a few hours at the bar, I threw my jacket down on the table that was near the front door and ran a hand through my hair.

"Don't go anywhere near that Damon Salvatore, Lissa," I spoke up, brushing the dust off of my pants; not bothering to look up at her. "He's such an arrogant little ass—" I stopped talking when I looked up to see Lissa and the older Salvatore standing in the kitchen, very close to each other.

My eyes grew wide and I flitted over to the vampire, grabbing him by the neck. I used all of my strength to throw him into the living room. He crashed into the table that was behind the couch and in a second I was on top of him, holding him down.

"Stay away from her, you ass-wipe," I spat, delivering a good punch to his jawline.

"No!" I heard Lissa shriek from behind me. "Emma, stop."

I looked up to see her standing behind me with her arms extended.

"Why are you defending him? How do you even know him?" I questioned.

But before I could hear her answer, I was knocked down to the ground and Damon was above me, holding me down by my throat.

"Listen here little vampire," Damon spat at me. "No one tells me what to do. And I'm pretty sure Lissa is her own person."

I hissed at him and pushed him off of me, sending him skidding across the kitchen floor.

"Get out of here!" I screamed at him.

"Make me," he challenged.

"Damon," Lissa cut in. "Just go."

Damon looked at her in confusion for a while before flitting out of the house. Lissa and I were alone and I was furious.

"How do you know him?" I asked, trying to control my anger so I didn't scare her.

"I met him at the Homecoming dance," she responded. "We started talking and I found out that he wants to kill Klaus as well. We've been talking with Alaric about it too. It's fine, Emma."

"You met Damon at the Homecoming dance and you didn't tell me?"

"I didn't know that I had to tell you everything," Lissa retorted.

"Whatever," I hissed. "Just stay away from Damon. He is bad news."

"But he can help us with Klaus!"

"Stefan and I have everything covered, Lissa," I told her. "Just stay out of it and stay away from Damon while you're at it."

"I don't see why you hate him," the brunette woman said.

"There's nothing good about him, Lissa," I spat. "All he does is take his anger out on the first thing that he sees. I'm sorry if I don't want that person to be you. Who knows what he is capable of?"

"I'll be fine," Lissa tried to reassure me.

"Tell that to me when you're dead, okay?" I snapped before rushing up the stairs to get to my room.

I was mad at everyone.

I was mad at Damon for snapping my neck repeatedly.

I was mad at Stefan for just standing there when I was there to help him.

I was mad at Klaus for ruining my happiness.

I was mad at that doppelgänger girl for trying to change Stefan into the goody-two-shoes that he was before.

I was mad at that witch for underestimating me.

I was mad at everyone in this town for not liking me.

And I was mad at Lissa for defending Damon.

Overall, you could say that I was having a _really_ bad day.

* * *

**A/N: Hello! Sorry for the short-ish chapter... But I would really like to know what you guys think so far. **

**Later tonight I may be publishing a new story. It will be based off of first season and continue on but it is a TOTALLY different plot and idea. It is still a Stefan/OC though and there will be a bit of Damon/OC. So you should check that out later. It will be named **Figure 8**.**

**More reviews equals a faster update!**

**Thanks for everything! **


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